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THE 



PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER : 



BEING 



A GUIDE TO THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE 



CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES 



NEW ENGLAND. 



By JOHN MITCHELL, 

*ASTOR Of THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, FAIR HAVENj CONN. 



€{ Beholding your Order and the steadfastness of your Faith in Christ." 
J Col. ii. 5. 







NEW HAVEN: NATHAN WHITING, 

1835. 






Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1835, by 
Nathan Whiting, in the Clerk's office of the District 
Court of Connecticut District 



* 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Oiugih and History of the Congregational Churches. 

Page 

Importance of the subject. The First Church. Set- 
tlement of New England. State of society. First 
Ministers of New England. Discusssion of Church 
Polity. Platforms. Present character of the New 
England Churches - - - - 13 

CHAPTER II. 
Principles of Congregational Church Order. 
Constitution of Churches. Members. Officers. Creeds. 
Self-government of the Churches. Practical results 
of the system .... 31 

CHAPTER III. 

Church Covenant and Watch. 
Nature of the Covenant. Mutual Watch of Members. 
Object— Spirit and Manner— and Importance, of the 
Duty .-„... «& 

CHAPTER IV. 

Church Discipline. 
£nds of Discipline, Means. Private Offences. Public 
Offences. Manner ©f Proceeding, Forsaking Coin- 



IV CONTENTS. 

Page 
id union. Miscellaneous and General Remarks on the 
subject of Discipline. Treatment of Excommunicated 
Persons ------ 67 

CHAPTER V. 

Church Meetings and Church Business. 

Importance of Church Meetings. Duty of Attending. 
Order to be observed in them. Articles of Practice 
— Temperance. Standing Committees - - 107 

CHAPTER VI. 

Relations of Pastor and People. 

The Pastoral Office. Settled Ministers, and Itinerant 
Preachers. Pastoral Prerogatives and Rights. Rights 
of the People - -11? 

CHAPTER VII. 

Deacons. 

Origin. Qualifications. Duties. Introduction into 

Office . . - | 131 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Religious Meetings. 

Public Worship. The Evening Lecture. The Social 

Prayer-Meeting. Preparatory Lecture. Concert - 135 

CHAPTER IX. 

Measures for the Promotion of Religion. 

"New Measures." Importance of Stated Ordinances 
and Means of Grace. Lay Preaching. Female 
Speaking in Promiscuous Assemblies. Hasty Ad- 



CONTENTS. V 

Pace 
missions to the Church. General Observance of Or- 
der - 143 

CHAPTER X. 

Relations of Church and Society — Parish Affairs. 
Settlement of a Pastor. Support of the Pastor. Vari- 
ous Modes of Providing for Parish Expenses — Taxes — 
Rent of Pews — Subscription — Funds — Sabbath Col- 
lections. Meeting Houses* Free Seats. Secular 
Use of Churches. Parsonages. The Young Men. 
Schools .--•-'- 173 

CHAPTER XI. 

Intercourse of Churches. 

Dismission of Members from one Church to another.— 
Exchanges. Councils. Associations. Transfer of 
Ministers from one Church to another - 211 

CHAPTER XII. 

Relations and Intercourse with other Denominations. 

Relations with Presbyterians. Deportment towards 
Cburches not in Communion with us. Proselyting, 
and its Unworthy Arts. Joint-stock Meeting Houses. 
Union Meetiugs, Catbolicism - - - 221 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Conclusion, 
Things requisite to the Practical Christian — Holiness — 
Prayer — Knowledge — A sound Faith — Concern for 
the Purity of the Church — Judgment — Candor — Pru- 
dence—Liberality — Constancy and Perseverance - 239 

1* 



Erratum. — At page 144, 3rd line from bottom, for "settled 
tendencies," read subtle tendencies. 

Correction.— The number of Congregational Churches in 
England and Wales is larger by several hundreds than I have 
stated, page 15. The number there given (1600 or 1700,) is 
only the number associated in the " Congregational Union of 
England and Wales." This, upon the authority of one of the 
Baptist Delegates from England, now in this country. 



PREFACE, 

This little volume has been written with reference to the 
youthful and growing Congregation of which it is the Author's 
happiness to be the Pastor. Jf it should please God to make it 
serviceable to them, my end is answered and my labor abun- 
dantly repaid : if its usefulness should be extended beyond them f 
I shall have the greater cause to be thankful. 

The title will remind the reader of some other books, from 
abler pens than mine. I allude to the " Church Member's 
Guide," by Mr. James, the "Church Manual," by Mr. Bacon, 
and the " Tribute to th© Memory of the Pilgrims," by Dr. 
Hawes, — books with which I hope the reader is too well ac- 
quainted to make it necessary for me to speak of their excel- 
lence and worth. The topics, however, of this volume, are, for 
the most part, distinct from the matter of those. Our several 
roads may lie within sight of each other, but are seldom coinci- 
dent. If mine lie in a more humble region than those, if it lead 
through a tract more monotinous and less productive of emo- 
tion, it is also less frequented and beaten, and on that account 
may contribute something to the profiting of the traveler, if not 
to his amusement. 

It will be noticed that a number of the subjects discussed or 
touched upon in the following pages, are matters which fall 



Vill PREFACE. 

among the controversies of the times. I have taken them up 
as they came in my way, and endeavored to dispose of them 
agreeably to the dictates of the Bible and common sense, not 
expecting to meet the views of everybody. It is impossible to 
be universally orthodox in an age when almost every subject, 
doctrinal or practical, is matter of excited altercation, — when 
with many» truth itself is ultraism, while with others, sobriety of 
judgment is too lukewarm a quality, and " meek-eyed" charity 
too smooth of tofogue, to suit their inflammable zeal. 

Without attempting to write, in a formal w r ay, on our eccle- 
siastical polity, I have wished to promote among our people a 
more general acquaintance with that subject. I do not suppose 
that Church order is the most important thiug in religion. But 
neither is it the least important. It certainly is not unimpor- 
tant Churches were instituted by Christ for particular pur- 
poses ; to wit, the edification of the members, and the efficient 
propagation of religion in the world ; and it is obvious that the 
manner of their constitution, that is, their polity, must have 
(much to do with their adaptedness to the ends in view ; and of 
course, that it can never be otherwise than an important subject 
to be studied and known. One could not wish, indeed, to see it 
exalted into that undue consequence, relatively considered, 
which was assigned to it in the discussions of by-gone centuries, 
much less to resuscitate the spirit of those discussions ; but 
neither is it well that it be wholly neglected. 

Besides the intrinsic and proper importance of the subject, it 
is desirable to know something about it, to be able to estimate 



PREFACE, IX 

the comparative claims of the different existing systems. We 
still hear of the lineage and validity of this order and that, — for 
though discussion has in a great measure ceased, as to this par- 
ticular field, pretension has not, — and it needs some intelligence 
to settle us. 

As to the Congregational system, its claims to a scriptural 
antiquity, and its practical utility, will be best understood, and 
most truly, and I trust most highly appreciated, by those who 
have studied it most. If it be as "primitive" as the Scriptures, 
and was familiar to Paul, it is doubtless primitive enough, and 
quite tolerably " apostolic," the claims notwithstanding, of 
primogeniture by others. 

Be this as it may, I cannot but think we are suffering it to 
fall into too much neglect among us. Our fathers sought truth 
on this subject with the same conscientiousness and care, as 
they sought the mind of Christ on other subjects. They sought 
it at the expense of persecution and exile ; and having, with 
unwearied pains, found it, they rejoiced in it. It was to them 
** like unto a treasure hid in a field ; the which, when a man 
hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and seileth all 
that he hath, and buyeth that field." In that age of ecclesiasti- 
cal confusion, and of turning back towards popery, they pro- 
fessed that M they looked upon the discovery and settlement of 
the Congregational way, as the boon, the gratuity, the largess 
of divine bounty, which the Lord graciously bestowed on his 
people that followed him into the wilderness." But we, their 
descendants, so far from entering into their studies, are almost 



X PREFACE. 

content to be ignorant of the very results of them, furnished to 
our hands. Is it not true, — and if it be true, is there not utterly 
a fault among us, — that not a few of our ministers do not inform 
themselves even, much less acquaint their people, thoroughly, 
with the principles and grounds of our ecclesiastical system ? 
And does it not hence arise, that our people are often too little 
intelligent in this matter properly to discharge the duties which 
our system requires of them as members ; and too little estab- 
lished in their views to be not soon unsettled and drawn away 
to churches of a different order, whose polity they find to be 
more insisted on, and whose claims they are not qualified 
to canvass ? Ought we not, as a part of our duty to ouf 
churches, and especially when large accessions are made to 
them of the subjects of our revivals, to instruct them, not only 
in the doctrines and moral duties of their religion, but in tho 
polity also, under which it is their duty and privilege to act? 

46 The Principles and Practice of the Congregational Church- 
es," become the more important in view of the place which these 
churches occupy, and doubtless are destined to occupy, in rela- 
tion to the great cause of Christ on earth. It is not to be sup- 
posed, indeed, that the world is to be converted by means of 
any one denomination of Christians. All shall be privileged 
to share in that glorious achievement. But if we consider the 
history of these New England churches, with their numerous 
and increasing offspring in the west — if we consider the way in 
which God has led them from the beginning, who M sifted three 



PREFACE. 21 

kingdoms that he might plant the American wilderness with the 
finest of the wheat," — if we consider their principles and spirit, 
their institutions, their intelligence, their presses, their zeal for 
moral reform, enlightened, principled, and constant; and their 
liberal devotedness to the work of missions and other objects 
of universal philanthropy ; we cannot but suppose that they 
are to have a very prominent agency in the renovation of th© 
world. It is therefore important that every member of their 
communion, should be prepared with every sort of instruction 
and qualification for the fulfilment of so high a destiny. 

If this humble volume contribute at all to such a result, — if 
it cause so much as one church, or member, of so important a 
communion, to be better informed, or more judicious — if it cast 
a little salt into so great a fountain,— it will not be valuelew, 
nor the labor of it lost. 



CHAPTER I. 

ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION- 
AL CHURCHES. 

If every man should know something of the history 
of his own religious communion, it is especially desira- 
ble that such a history 3s that of the founders of the 
Churches of New England should, by every means, be 
kept alive in the minds of their posterity. The char- 
acter of our Pilgrim Fathers, the causes and objects of 
their removal hither, the hardships they suffered — more 
for the sake of us their children, than for their own, — - 
have a most sacred claim upon our memory. It is a 
history which every son of New England should value 
as his birth-right. "No sober New Englandeiv(says 
Dr. Dwight) can read the history of his country, with- 
out rejoicing that God has caused him to spring from 
the loins of such ancestors, and given him his birth in a 
country whose public concerns were entrusted to their 
management:" and it maj be added, that no New 
Englander who is willingly ignorant of that history is 
worthy of his origin ; or capable of appreciating, or 
competent to defend, the inestimable inheritance which 
has descended to him. " I shall count my country lost, 
(says Cotton Mather) in the loss of the primitive prin- 
ciples, and the primitive practices, upon which it was 



14 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

at first established :" that loss, however, will ensue, and 
New England will cease to be New England, when her 
degenerate children, (if that should ever be,) shall be 
generally ignorant of her history, or cease to revere the 
memory of her founders. 

It is not, however, the design, nor is it within the com- 
pass, of this volume, to give such a history. A few things 
only can be noticed, as introductory to the matters 
which are to follow. 

The Congregational polity, at least in some of its 
leading features, began early to be discussed, among 
the schemes which occupied the Reformers of the six- 
teenth century, but did not assume a visible and per- 
manent existence till about 1600. The exiled church 
at Leyden, under the care of the celebrated Robinson, 
which afterwards removed to Plymouth, in New Eng- 
and, is regarded as the mother of the Congregational 
sister-hood, and its pastor, as the founder of the Congre- 
gational plan. 

This church was gathered in England in 1602. Be- 
ing harrassed by an intolerant establishment, they re- 
moved, a few years after, to Holland, and thence, in 
1620, to Plymouth; where the first detachment of them 
arrived, in a forlorn condition, in the depth of winter* 
From the distresses of the sea, which had detained them 
long upon its bosom, they escaped, at length, to encoun- 
ter the greater distresses of a houseless forest and an 
inclement season, — distresses, both of sea and land, 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 15 

which only a piety like theirs would have been willing 
to encounter, and a faith like theirs, been able to sus- 
tain. 

The settlement at Plymouth was the first of the reli- 
gious colonies which, within a few years after, during 
the " Laudian persecution," peopled the streams and 
harbors of New England. And this was the begin- 
ning of Congregationalism in this country. 

Meantime, a branch of the same vine was beginning 
to take root in England. The first church which was 
gathered there, after Mr. Robinson's, was organized, 
with simple and affecting solemnities, in 1616. Its 
pastor was a Mr. Jacob, who during a visit to Leyden 
had embraced Mr. Robinson's views. In that unpro- 
pitious soil, it struggled with even greater difficulties, 
of another kind, than these encountered which were 
planted in the wilderness. "It subsisted almost by a 
miracle for above twenty-four years, shifting from place 
to place, to avoid the notice of the public," till, the 
times changing, it openly appeared in a house of wor- 
ship in 1640. # From these oppressed beginnings, Con- 
gregationalism in England has gone on increasing and 
flourishing, " as a grain of mustard seed," till it now 
numbers, in that country and in Wales, about 1600 or 
1700 congregations, and as many ministers. Of its 
numbers in Scotland I am not informed ; but if the eu- 
logy of the celebrated Chalmers, (a Presbyterian) be 

* Neal. 



16 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER, 

just, who says of the Scottish Congregationalists, that 
they are " the purest body of Christians in the united 
kingdom/' it is to be wished that the number were 
greater than it is, whatever it may be. 

The state of society in the New England settlements, 
as might be expected from the causes which originated 
them, was altogether peculiar. It was entirely and 
eminently religious. It might be said of every family, 
that it was a pious family ; of every adult individual, 
that he was strictly moral, if not religious ; and of ev- 
ery child, that he was piously educated. They were 
of the best people of England. For it is the best peo- 
ple, — the most pious and exemplary always, and com- 
monly not the least intelligent and respectable, that 
persecution banishes from its communion, while it re- 
tains the worst. They were the best people of Jerusa- 
lem, " who were scattered abroad upon the persecution 
that arose about Stephen." They were of the best 
people of France who fled on the revocation of the 
edict of Nantes. And England had no better people 
within her bosom than she exiled from it, by the intol- 
erable vexations of her High Commission and other 
spiritual courts. The immoral and unprincipled — peo- 
ple of lax lives and pliant consciences — are not the 
people who either disturb the persecutor, or are dis- 
turbed by him. When the Rev. Mr. Cotton, the first 
minister of Boston, a man of excellent learning and 
piety, and of much repute in England, as he afterwards 
was in this country, was informed against in the High 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 17 

Commission, and applied to the earl of Dorset for his 
interest with the primate, the earl sent him word that, 
" if he had been guilty of drunkenness, uncleanness, 
or any such lesser fault, he could have got his par- 
don : but the sin of puritanism and non-conformity 
was unpardonable, and therefore he must fly for his 
safety." It was for " the sin of puritanism and non- 
conformity," and for no other " fault," that our fa- 
thers were forced to leave. 

The settlers of New England were all of one per- 
suasion. There was no mixture of emulous and pros- 
elyting sects. All the inhabitants of a parish were 
called by the same bell to the same sanctuary ; all lov- 
ed and respected the same pastor ; instructed their 
children in the same schools, and catechisms ; mourn- 
ed together in the same church yard : all kept the uni- 
ty of the Spirit in the bond of peace ; being called in 
one hope of their calling ; having one Lord, one faith, 
one baptism, one God and Father of all. If they ori- 
ginally brought any diversity of views with them, their 
common piety, and common trials, and the earnestness 
and simplicity of their common search for truth, soon 
matured them into harmony. 

This happy unity prevailed for several generations. 
Nor was this a drowsy and secure state of things. The 
presence of God was eminently with them. The first 
age of New England was one of an almost continuous 
revival. Preaching was attended with so much power, 

in some places, " that it was a common inquiry by such 

2* 



18 £HE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER 

members of a family as were detained at home oil $ 
Sabbath, whether any had been visibly awakened in the 
house of God that day." " Few Sabbaths did pass 
without some evidently converted, and some convin- 
cing proof of the power of God accompanying his 
word."* Thus the children of the settlers, as they came 
forward into life, under the faithful care of their parents^ 
and ministers, were gathered, by the favor of God, into 
the same communion with themselves. The Spirit of 
revivals has overshadowed these churches from the be- 
ginning.f 

* Prince's Christian History . 

f There was one considerable period of extensive and alar- 
ming declension in the early days of New England. It com- 
menced, visibly, about 1660 or 1670, i. e. with the third genera- 
tion. The days of trial had by that time passed away, and 
prosperity had succeeded. Prosperity is the greatest of all tri*- 
als to churches. 

But even of this period, Mather, the historian, says, " Indeed 
the people of God in this land were not so far gone in degenera- 
cy, but that there were further degrees of disorder and corrup- 
tion to be found in other, yea, in all 'other places, where the pro- 
testant religion is professed ; and the most impartial observers 
must have acknowledged, that there was proportionabiy still 
more of true religion, and a larger number of the strictest saints, 
in. this country, than in any other on the face of the earth. But 
it was to be confessed, that the degeneracy of New England 
in any measure, into the spirit of the world, was a thing ex- 
tremely aggravated by the greatness of our obligations to the 
contrary." Magnah Book V. In view of this declension there r 



THE PRACTICAL CHtJRCH MEMBER. 19 

Thus one in sentiment, and thus blessed, were the 
early churches of New England. I have heard opin- 
ions and reasonings advanced in support of the suppo- 
sed good effects of a diversity of sects ; but I have seen 
no evidence of such effects, like the evidence to the 
contrary in the history of these churches. There is no 
scripture for the position, that I am aware of, (but much 
to the contrary,) and I fear there are no facts. Has the 
condition of New England been improved by the flood- 
ing of sects into it ? Have we more piety, and better 
morals ? Was such diversity of sects deemed desirable 
in the apostle's days ? The benefits — what are they, 
in comparison of the evils ? They are to be shown, 
perhaps, by Pope's doctrine, " All discoid, harmony not 
understood ;" or by the philosophy of an older theo- 

was a special meeting, or synod, called at Boston, to consider a 
work of reform : and it is remarkable with what fidelity and 
minuteness this synod went into an inquiry respecting the pre- 
vailing sins, — the result of which they published. A similar re- 
form was engaged in in Connecticut. Many churches set apart 
seasons for special prayer, faithful inquiry, and solemn renewal 
of covenant; and " very remarkable was the blessing of God 
upon'the churches which did so." "Many thousands of spec- 
tators will testify, that they never saw the special presence of 
the great God our Savior more notably discovered than in the 
solemnities of thuse opportunities." Mather. 

Though there was no general revival during this period, which 
continued till the great awakening of 1629 and 1640, there were 
numerous local ones, as e. g. in Northampton, where there 
were five during the ministry of Mr. Shepard. 



20 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

rist, who tells us that "the whole world is kept in or- 
der by discord ; and every part of it is a more particu- 
lar composed jarre." Are divisions and subdivisions 
of congregations, into handfuls of people ; are more 
houses than can be filled, and more ministers than are 
needed ; are rivalries and jealousies, and strifes and en- 
vyings ; are gradations of truth and of error, accommo- 
dated to all sorts of men ; are schemes against schemes, 
and churches against churches ; and lo ! here, and lo ! 
there, the benefits intended? I know it is with God to 
bring good out of evil ; and how much he may bring 
out of this is known only to him : but the evils are 
manifest, and the sin, I fear, great. " For whereas 
there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, 
are ye not carnal, and walk as men ? For while one 
saith, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are 
ye not carnal ? 

The first ministers of New England were episcopally 
ordained, and had been settled pastors previous to their 
coming hither. " I have before me, (says Neal,) a list 
of seventy-seven divines who became pastors of sundry 
churches and congregations in New England before 
1640, all of whom were in orders in the Church of Eng- 
land." They received their ordination, generally, in 
the time of the mild arch-bishop Abbot, a man of such 
piety and temper, that had his predecessor, Bancroft, 
and his successor, Laud, been men of the like views 
and spirit, New England had not been settled as it was. 
They received their education at the Universities of 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 21 

Cambridge and Oxford, and were all of them respectably, 
and some of them extensively, if not profoundly, learn- 
ed. Their excellence, both as preachers and as men, 
has been abundantly testified to, by men, not only of 
their own, but of other persuasions. Two persons* 
who well knew them, have left the following account of 
them. " We that saw the persons, who, from four fa- 
mous colonies assembled in the synod that agreed on 
our Platform of Church Discipline, cannot forget their 
excellent character. They were men of great renown 
in the nation from whence the Laudian persecution ex- 
iled them : their learning, their holiness, their gravity, 
struck all men that knew them with admiration. They 
were Timothies in their houses, Chrysostoms in their 
pulpits, Augustines in their disputations. The prayers, 
the studies, the humble inquiries, with which they sought 
after the mind of God, were as likely to prosper as any 
means upon earth. And the sufferings wherein they 

* Rev. John Higginson, son of the first minister of Salem, 
and Rev. William Hubbard, minister of Ipswich ; both born in 
England. These venerable men, at an advanced period of 
their lives, anxious to perpetuate " the old principles of New 
England," drew up a joint paper, expressly for after genera- 
tions, which they left behind them, with the following super- 
scription: "A testimony to the Order of the gospel in the chur- 
ches of New England: left in the hands of the churches by the 
two most aged ministers of the gospel yet surviving in the coun- 
try. The former died 1708, aged 93; the latter in 1704, aged 
63 



22 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

were confessors for the name and the truth of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, add unto the arguments which would per- 
suade us, that our gracious Lord would reward and honor 
them, with communicating much of his truth unto them." 

There was no one subject which engaged the atten- 
tion of the founders of New England more than the 
subject of church polity. Having escaped from the half 
reformed protestantism of their native land, they were 
deeply anxious to establish a system here according to 
the true primitive model. 

They were now in circumstances to do so. The 
reformation in England had stopped short of the reason- 
able expectations of its most enlightened friends. It 
was often stationary, often retrograde. It retained, at 
its best estate, too many of the habiliments, and by far 
too much of the spirit, of the popish religion which it 
had professed to supplant. It was retarded by the hab- 
its of the people, which had been formed under Catho- 
lic influence. It was involved in numberless controver- 
sies. It was entangled with interests of state. It was 
opposed by the claims of arrogant prerogative, and re- 
pressed by arbitrary power. Freedom of thought was 
" an heinous crime," and liberty of conscience, " an 
iniquity to be punished by the judges." But the New 
England puritans were now beyond the action of all 
these adverse influences. They had come out from 
among them, and were separate ; and with an ocean 
intervening, and a wilderness about them, there was no 
impediment to their free inquiries. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER, 23 

In these inquiries the Bible was their guide. The 
Bible alone. They were not ignorant of history, nor 
slow to avail themselves of any light which fathers, 
councils, or reformers, might shed upon their minds ; 
but they regarded the Bible alone as authoritative. If 
alone authoritative, it must be sufficient alone ; and 
the man of God, possessing the Bible, is, in respect to 
all that is essential to faith or practice, perfect, thorough- 
ly furnished unto all good works. So the Puritans be- 
lieved and acted. They built their system upon the 
Bible, and thought the foundation broad enough. They 
needed no traditions, or inventions of men, or reasons 
of state, to make it broader. Deeply feeling their respon- 
sibility to the God of the Bible, to that law and testi- 
mony they constantly referred their own and other 
men's opinions. " The supreme judge, (say they, in 
their Platform) by which all controversies in religion are 
to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions 
of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, 
are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to 
rest, can be no other, but the Holy Scripture delivered 
by the Spirit ; into which Scripture so delivered, our 
faith is finally resolved." What a world of confusion 
and darkness would have been swept away, had all men 
been as simple in their appeal to the Scriptures as were 
the Puritans of New England! 

Besides their numerous tracts and volumes on the sub- 
ject of church order, it was abundantly discussed in ser- 
mons, and in other forms. The results of these discus- 



24 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

sions were embodied, generally, in the Cambridge Plat- 
form, which was considered and agreed to by a Synod 
convened at that place, in 1648, and recommended to 
the acceptance of the churches. This Synod was com- 
posed of ministers from all the colonies ; the invitation 
being general, and the interest a common and important 
one. They also adopted a confession of faith, namely, 
the Westminster ; which had then lately been set forth. 
For this the Savoy Confession was afterwards substitut- 
ed. 

Having finished their work, in which they had pro- 
ceeded with great harmony, " they did, with an extra- 
ordinary elevation of soul and voice, then sing togeth- 
er the song of Moses and the Lamb, in the fifteenth 
chapter of Revelation :" and thus the session was clos- 
ed. 

From that time onward, the Cambridge Platform, (till 
it was superseded in Connecticut, in 1708, by the Say- 
brook Platform) was the general directory of the Church- 
es. It did not originate, or essentially modify their 
practice, but rather recognized and digested the princi- 
ples upon which they were already established. It is 
an instrument the wisdom of which will be more seen, 
the more it is studied, and compared with the Scrip- 
tures. 

The Saybrook Platform is based upon the same gen- 
eral views as the Cambridge ; differing from it only, or 
chiefly, in the further provision it makes in respect to 
councils, and associations of ministers. 






THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 25 

Such, briefly, is the rise and early history of the New 
England Churches. Of other institutions which have 
had their origin and growth with these churches, I can 
take no notice. 

It is the habit of infidels and vain persons, and, we 
must now add, of Catholics, and some others from 
whom better things might be hoped, to disparage the 
memory of the Pilgrims, — with what motives, it need 
not be mentioned. But the attempt is vain. Their 
works speak for them. Their schools, their colleges, 
their laws and governments, — to say nothing of their 
churches, — institutions which all men admire, liberties 
which all men are breathing after, a state of society 
which, for its intelligence and morals, has no parallel in 
any country, — these are their memorials. When our 
praise of the Pilgrims, or, rather, when our gratitude to 
God on their behalf, surpasses the benefits received 
through them ; when it rises higher, or spreads farther, 
than the healthful influences which they originated, then 
shall our gratitude be abated, and our praise restrain- 
ed. 

There is one reflection which ought to be made, per- 
haps, in passing, touching the sensitiveness of some, 
who cannot endure to hear of the puritans being perse- 
cuted, and that by bishops, without conceiving them- 
selves assailed with reproach. 

The facts cannot be questioned. They cannot be 
blotted from history. But they are not now to be 
mentioned to the prejudice of the existing Church 

3 



26 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

of England, much less, to the reproach of Episcopalians 
in general. They belong to times which have long 
since passed away. The odium of them cannot attach 
to the children, except as they allow the deeds of their 
fathers, and approve their sayings ; and manifest, them- 
selves, the same exclusive, high-church spirit which was 
the cause of persecution in them. It was an exclusive, 
high-church spirit in Saul of Tarsus, that made him a 
persecutor ; it was an exclusive, high-church spirit in 
Laud, and his coadjutors ; and an exclusive, high-church 
spirit, in any age, or church, is not far from a persecu- 
ting spirit. " There never was a time, (says the vener- 
able John Jay) when high-church doctrines promoted 
peace on earth and good will among men."^ 

As it regards the Congregational communion at the 
present day, its members still cherish, in a good degree, 
the principles and habits of their fathers. They are still 
the enlightened friends of liberty and religion ; the effi- 
cient patrons of education ; the advocates, even to a 
proverb among the licentious, of law, and order, and 
virtuous morals. If in some degree they have declined 
from the strictness of former times, it may yet be said, 
that they are among the most strict of the existing de- 
nominations. If, as a body, they keep the Sabbath 
with less exactness, than the fathers did, (a fact to be 

* Letter to Trinity Church, New York, — a paper worthy to 
be read by all Churchmen. See his Life, chap. 12. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 27 

deplored) it may still be asked, what body of Christian 
professors respect it more than they do, or have shown 
themselves more solicitous to protect it from profana- 
tion ? If less severe, or strenuous, in their opposition 
to vice, which of the sister denominations is before them 
in every work of reform ; or against which has the en- 
mity of the profligate been more manifested on this ac- 
count ? 

I hope w r e may never be backward to confess our 
sins, and to lament our degeneracy. But whatever our 
sin, or degeneracy, may be, may it never be that of 
abandoning the principles and habits of our fathers. 
Return, we beseech thee O God of hosts, look down 
from heaven, and behold and visit this vine ! 

We revere the memory of the Pilgrims. We revere 
their principles. We cherish their institutions. We 
cannot but love the churches of their planting ; not 
merely, or blindly, because of their origin with them, 
but because of their scriptural simplicity and tried 
excellence. We hold fast that which is good. We 
contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the 
saints, identical, as we believe, with the faith of these 
churches ; and for its precious fruits, as developed in their 
influence. 

We cannot look at the results of the Congregational 
system, ecclesiastical and doctrinal, as we behold them 
in New England, and elsewhere, without feeling that for 
as to abandon it, would make us culpable as freemen and 



28 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

philanthropists, as well as degenerate as sons and 
Christians. If it was an enlightened piety in the fath- 
ers which devised the system, must it not be either ig- 
norance or degeneracy in the sons, that discards it ? 
And though we can appreciate, and acknowledge what- 
ever is excellent in other communions, yet, after morg 
than two centuries experience of the fruits of this, un- 
aided as it was, and for a long time unmolested, by 
other systems, and operating alone in forming the char- 
acter of New England ; we may, without bigotry, we 
trust, say to such as would proselyte us, or our children, 
to other modes, brought in to rival, or supplant, the Con- 
gregational, Show us better fruits , before we forsake 
the tree which produces these.* 

If this land were now a wilderness, as it was, and the 
foundations of our welfare were now to be laid, who 
were the men, or what the principles, which were bet- 

* " Let it be recollected, that for nearly a hundred years af- 
ter the settlement of New England, there were very few of any 
denomination in the land besides Congregationalists. In 1700, 
there were in all the New England states then settled, 900 Epis- 
copalians, [equal to one moderate congregation] of whom 185 
were communicants. There were no Methodists : and with the 
exception of Rhode Island, very few Baptists. Not a single 
church of this denomination existed in Connecticut, and but 
two or three in Massachusetts. There were at the same time 
one hundred and twenty Congregational churches, besides thir- 
ty churches composed of Indians. It is plain then that New 
England is, what it is, chiefly from the influence of the Con- 
gregationalists, and of Congregational principles." fiawes* 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 29 

ter fitted for the work, than those we are considering? 
And if these principles are any less valuable now than 
they once were, if they are less scriptural, or less effica- 
cious, let the system be brought forward, of all the ex- 
isting systems of faith and order, which is more scrip- 
tural, and endued with a greater efficacy to make men 
virtuous and happy. " Where is truth, where is piety, 
where is hope and salvation to be found, if not in these 
Christian societies, which, for two hundred years, have 
shared so signally in the protection and care of Almigh- 
ty God, and which, for the same period, have exerted so 
happy an influence on all the dearest interests and hopes 
of this favored community ?"* Or if these principles 
do not now reside in the Congregational communion, 
if the gold has become utterly dim, and the most fine 
gold changed, let it be shown in what communion they 
do reside — and we will be converts to that communion. 
But if no such church or system can be named, then 
let the Congregational descendents of the Pilgrims sus- 
tain, under God, to the latest times, the faith, and the 
order, of their Congregational progenitors. 

Meantime, we repeat the testimony of the venerable 
men before quoted,f and hand it down to our children. 
"We do therefore earnestly testify, (say they) that if 
any who are given to change, do rise up to unhinge the 
well established churches in this land, it will be the du- 
ty and interest of the churches, to examine, whether the 

* Hawes. f Messrs. Higginson and Hubbard. 

3* 



80 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER, 

men of this trespass, are more prayerful, more watch- 
ful, more zealous, more patient, more heavenly, more 
universally conscientious, and harder students, and bet- 
ter scholars, and moie willing to be informed and ad- 
vised, than those great and good men, who left unto the 
churches what they now enjoy. If they be not so, it 
will be wisdom for the children to forbear pulling down 
with their own hands, the houses of God which were 
built by their wiser fathers, until they have better satis- 
faction." And they conclude with their " prayers unto 
the Lord for these holy churches, [in which, who will 
not unite ?] that he would surely visit them, and grant 
much of his gracious presence and Spirit in the midst 
of them ; and raise up, from time to time, those who 
may be happy instruments of bringing down the hearts 
of the parents into the children. The Lord bless these 
His churches, and keep them steadfast, both in the 
faith, and in the order of the gospel, and be with them, 
as he was with their fathers, and never leave them nor 
forsake them I" , 



CHAPTER II. 

PRINCIPLES OF THE CONGREGATIONAL SYS- 
TEM OF CHURCH ORDER. 

As the rights and duties of a church-member are es- 
sentially modified by the polity of the church to which 
he belongs, it is important to him, and also to the 
church, that he should understand the principles of 
that polity. The government of a church, like any 
other government, is a practical thing : it defines rela- 
tions, distributes powers, prescribes duties. And these 
vary with the character of the system. It is therefore 
obvious, that though all believers, considered simply as 
disciples of Christ, have the same duties to discharge, 
yet considered as subject to this or that particular eccle- 
siastical organization, their duties, as well as their priv- 
ileges, may be quite diverse. As the active duties of the 
citizen of a republic are not the same as those of the 
passive subject of an oligarchy ; being more numerous, 
more responsible, more noble : so, under the various 
schemes of church order, there is more or less for the 
laity to do, or to submit to, in the management of af- 
fairs, as the schemes have more or less of the character 
of free institutions. 

The following are essential features in the Congrega- 
tional system. They do not comprise the whole, but 
include those which are most distinctive. They 



3*2 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

relate to the constitution of churches, their members, 
powers, officers, and relations. 

A church is a society of believers, united together, 
by their own consent, or covenant, in obedience to the 
will of Christ, for the observance of ordinances, their 
own edification, and the propagation of the faith. 
Each society, thus formed, with its proper officers, is to 
all intents a church. 

No persons are to be received as members, but such 
as are hopefully renewed by the Spirit of God, giving 
credible evidence of the same. 

Church power, as it is called, that is, the power to 
receive, and to discipline members, to elect officers, 
and to do such other acts as concern the body, in mat- 
ters of practice, is vested in the church itself, and not 
in its officers. The latter have their proper authority 
and influence, (as will be noticed elsewhere,) but 
have not power to rule the church, except by consent 
of the brother-hood. 

The officers of the church are of two orders, namely, 
presbyters (or ministers) and deacons. They are 
elected by the brethren, and ordained by presbyters. 

The churches are, in a qualified sense, independent. 
No church admits the right of any other church, or 
number of churches, or church officers, to interfere 
authoritatively with its faith or discipline. They 
maintain, however, an endeared and extended com- 
munion and co-operation with one another ; and are so 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 33 

far mutually subject to discipline, that an erring church 
is open to the reproofs of others, and, if the case re- 
quire, may be disowned from the general communion. 

They do not allow the imposition of human creeds, 
or standards, as tests or orthodoxy, or terms of com- 
munion. 

The relations of Church and Society, as they have 
been established by New England Congregationalists, 
are, it is believed, peculiar, and eminently happy. 

I merely state these items, without the grounds or 
proofs of them. But for the elucidation of some of 
them, I subjoin the following remarks. 

1. Churches, properly constituted, are voluntary as- 
sociations , being formed by the free consent of the mem- 
bers. They can be properly formed in no other way. 
Men are not born into the church, but into the world : 
though volumes have been written to the contrary. 
Nor can any act of power, ecclesiastical, or civil ; or 
any parish, or diocesan, or other geographical lines, 
make them members. It must be by their own intel- 
ligent act. The whole business of religion, as it stands 
in the Bible, is a voluntary thing ; and this as well as 
the rest. 

2. It is essential to the due organization of a church, 
that the members enter into a covenant, either express 
or implied. According to Congregational usage, it is 
express and written. 



34 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 






The propriety of this is obvious. A number of per- 
sons associate together for certain ends which require 
their faithful co-operation. They therefore pledge 
themselves to each other so to co-operate ; and as God 
is concerned in the matter, the covenant has regard to 
him, as well as to the members. 

The practice is abundantly supported by scripture 
example. For covenanting with God, see Gen. 17. 
Deut. xxix. 10—13. Exod. xix. 8. Neh. ix. 38, (in 
w r hich instance the covenant was written and sealed,) 
and other passages. For covenanting with one anoth- 
er, see Neh. x. 28 — 31. 2 Cor. viii. 5. 

It also appears from history, that this was the prac 
tice of the primitive churches.* 

3. Congregationalists hold to the local and separate 
being of churches, as composed of single societies o: 
believers, in opposition to the idea of an extended 
church, composed of many societies ; as a catholic, a 
national, or a diocesan church. The New Testament 
never uses the word church in this extended sense, 
(except as it speaks of the whole family of the redeem- 
ed,) but applies it only to local assemblies ; as the church 
of Ephesus, the church in Smyrna, at Corinth, &c. 
When it speaks of provinces, or countries, it uses the 
plural, churches ; as the churches of Galatia, of Mace- 
donia, the seven churches which are in Asia, &c. 

And this is the Congregational idea. Each society 

* See Upham's Rat. Dis. §§29—31, 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 35 

is a church, a whole church, and not a fraction, or con- 
stituent part of a church. It is complete in itself, and 
competent to all the acts which it is proper for a church 
to do. Hence, while we hear of The Church of Eng- 
land, The Presbyterian Church, The Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, meaning extended bodies, having common 
and imperative articles of subscription, and amenable 
to some central, or common power, we never hear of 
The Congregational Church, but they are spoken of 
as churches. Nor do we commonly hear from Con- 
gregationalists, such phrases as our Church, our Zion ; 
or such personifications as her communion, her pale, 
and the like. Such imposing phrases and ideas, though 
there be no great harm in them, perhaps, are as uncon- 
gregational as they seem to us unscriptural. In the 
mouths of some they are unamiably sectarian. 

The Congregational communion is not one great 
imposing consolidated church ; but a band of related 
Christian families ; bound together by oneness of 
faith, affection, and aim ; having the Bible for their 
common directory, and Christ for their common head. 
Such were the New Testament churches. 

I 4. That churches should be composed of those who, 
in the judgment of charity, are true believers, and of 
such only, is essential, not only to the purity of 
'churches, but to every object for which they exist. 
[Supposing them to be made up indifferently of believ- 
ers and unbelievers, the children of God and the chil- 



36 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

dren of the world, there could be neither fellowship, 
discipline, co-operation, nor visible separateness from 
the world. What fellowship hath righteousness with 
unrighteousness, or what communion hath light with 
darkness ? This is clear enough in scripture, and in 
reason ; but not every church has acted upon it. 

If churches are to be formed carefully and strictly 
upon this principle, we may see how wrong it is to in- 
vite the entrance of the unconverted, either by urgen- 
cy, or by too easy admission. How often have church- 
es sought to enlarge themselves by lowering the terms 
of admission ; by too large or lax a charity, in respect 
to evidence of grace ; by extolling the saving efficacy 
of their sacraments, and " valid ordinances ;" or by 
the too ready embrace of a merely sectarian and pros- 
elyting zeal ? How often is " the temple of God" 
sinned against, in these and similar ways ! " But let ev- 
ery man take heed how he buildeth." The apostolic 
churches were composed of none but those who were 
hopefully renewed, according to the best evidence that 
could be had of them. They were all addressed as 
" saints," " saints in Christ," saints and faithful." 
Our Savior himself offered no facilities for the admis- 
sion of the impenitent, but discouraged them ; as the 
Bible everywhere does. Ps. 1. 16. Matt. viii. 19, 
20. Luke xiv. 26—33. Eccles. v. 5. 1 Cor. iii. 10, 
12, 13. 

5. As the members are required to have fellowship 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER, 37 

one with another, and as there can be no fellowship be- 
tween those who are brought together without consent, 
or likeness of character, (for how can two walk togeth- 
er except they be agreed ?) it is manifestly fit and rea- 
sonable that new members should come in by consent 
of the brotherhood. 

Again, as the brethren admit members, so it is for 
them to expel members, when their conduct requires it. 
In other words, as it was with them to say whether a 
person was worthy of their fellowship, at the first ; it 
is with them to say whether he continues worthy, or 
has forfeited their confidence. That is ; the power of 
admission, and of discipline, is properly in the brother- 
hood. Suppose it to be elsewhere, and to be exercis- 
ed independently of them : it may force an unworthy 
and unwelcome member upon them, but it cannot force 
their confidence and love. He may be among them, 
but he is not of them. 

6. If the right of admitting and excluding members 
be important to the brotherhood, much more is the 
right of choosing their own ministers. My edification, 
as dependent on my minister ; the love and respect I 
am required to bear towards him ; my concern for my 
children and friends, and for all who are to share with 
me in the influence of his ministrations ; and many 
other things, make it exceedingly desirable to me, that 
I should have a voice in his election. 

Nor let it be said that the brethren are not qualified 

4 



38 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

for such a trust. Our Savior virtually judges other- 
wise, where he says, the sheep know the shepherd's 
voice, and a stranger will they not follow, but will flee 
from him ; for they know not the voice of strangers. 
True Christians soon discern the spirit of their minis- 
ters ; and are made to feel what occasion they have in 
them either to rejoice, or to mourn. Blind guides may 
satisfy the blind, but not the " children of the day." 

" Of such moment is the preservation of this power, 
[of choosing their officers] that the churches exercised 
it in the presence of the apostles. " # Acts xiv. 23,f 
and vi. 3 — 5. 

7. Of church officers we have but two kinds, because 
but two are recognized in the New Testament. But 
two kinds recognized, I mean, of permanent officers, — 
ministers and deacons. The apostolic office was not 
a permanent one, but expired with the twelve. 

The words bishop, elder, pastor, and minister, are 
used in the New Testament to signify the same office, 
being applied to the same person. Hence the equality 
of ministers. It was not intended that some should be 
set up as overseers and lords over the others. " Be not 
ye called Rabbi : for one is your Master, even Christ ; 
and all ye are brethren." " Ye know that they which 

* Camb. Plat. 

f This passage reads in our translation, " they ordained," 
&c. but the word in the original, means to elect by lifting up 
the hand. See Robinson's Lex. verb, ^siforovsw. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 39 

are accounted to rule over the gentiles exercise lord- 
ship over them ; and their great ones exercise authori- 
ty upon them. But so it shall not be among you." 

The three grades of bishops, priests, and deacons, 
are not to be found in the New Testament. The 
chapter and verse cannot be named. Of course, as 
they are not in the Bible, they are not of divine 
right, whatever may be said for them from history or 
expediency. 

Lay-presbyters, or ruling elders, are supposed, by 
Presbyterians, to be authorized by 1 Tim. v. 17. " Let 
the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double 
honor, especially they who labor in word and doctrine. 55 
But it is thought by very judicious critics that they 
have misapprehended the meaning of the passage. 
Let the elders (ministers) who rule well, especially 
those who are laborious in preaching, be counted wor- 
thy of double honor. Compare with 1 Thess. v. 12, 
13, and Heb. xiii. 17. Reference is also made, in sup- 
port of the office, to Rom. xii. 7, 8. and 1 Cor. xii. 28. 
These passages speak of ruling, and of helps and gov- 
ernments, but specify nothing as to a government by 
ruling elders.* The expediency, or lawfulness, of this 

* " This distinction between teaching and ruling elders, if it 
ever existed, (which I will neither affirm nor deny,) was cer- 
tainly not of long continuance ; for St. Paul makes it a quali- 
fication requisite in all presbyters, or bishops, that they be able 
to teach and instruct others J Tim. iii, 2, &c. — Mosheim, 
J3k, I. 



40 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

method of government, is a separate question, which 
every one will settle for himself. 

8. From our having no public Articles of religion to 
which we require subscription, it is sometimes objected 
to us, that we are a " church without a creed!" — as if 
that were some grievous thing. But in this we are like 
the primitive churches. They had no confession, sym- 
bol, standard, or formulary whatever, that we are in- 
formed of, except the Bible. We have no other, and 
think that we need no other. We think that the Bible 
contains, in the form of express statute or recorded 
practice, not only all that is essential to the faith of 
churches, but all that is requisite to order and discipline ; 
and that its instructions are sufficiently ascertainable 
without the medium of a human compend. 

If it be supposed, from our having no standards, that 
we have therefore no distinctness or harmony of belief, 
or practice ; or that our sentiments are uncertain, and not 
to be known ; the supposition is a very mistaken one. 
The sentiments of no denomination are more widely or 
distinctly known, — gathered, it is true, not from Arti- 
cles, numbered and stereotyped ; but from the living pul- 
pit, from lucid and laborious authors, and from thou- 
sands of tracts and periodicals. And the harmony of 
our churches has been proverbial Notwithstanding 
their perfect and universal freedom, as to what they shall 
believe or practice, being bound by no creeds or canons, 
there has been a remarkable agreement both of faith and 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER, 41 

practice among them, and a prevailing likeness of char- 
acter, throughout New England; and for above two 
centuries. What churches have dwelt together in great- 
er affection and unity ? In what body of Christians 
have there been fewer defections from the faith? And 
not only here, but wherever the denomination is known. 
The following testimony of the Congregational Union 
of England and Wales, respecting the denomination in 
that country, may stand for all. " They wish it to be 
observed, (they say,) that notwithstanding their jealousy 
of subscription to Creeds and Articles, and their gene- 
ral disapproval of the imposition of any human stand- 
ard, they are far more agreed in their doctrines and prac- 
tices, than any church which enjoins subscription, and 
enforces a human standard of orthodoxy." 

Whatever may be said of the utility of creeds, we 
have, in the history of these churches, a practical dem- 
onstration that they are at least not indispensable, either 
to the being or well-being of churches. 

There can be no objection to creeds, that is, to com- 
pends of doctrine, for certain purposes. They have 
their uses, and perhaps excellent uses. But Congrega- 
tionalists object to their being imposed as tests, or set up 
as standards, to enforce uniformity. We deprecate 
the authority they are apt to grow to, to the prejudice 
of the rights of conscience, and of the word of God. 
As fences against heresy, experience does not prove 
them to be very effectual. As articles of peace, and 
bonds of union, we fear they create divisions as often as 

4* 



42 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

they prevent them. How large a proportion of the in- 
ternal troubles of churches which use them, — their " Acts 
and Testimonies," their protests and counter-protests, 
their trials of good men and books for heresy, and the 
like ; arise from nothing else than zeal for standards ? 
Such instruments are apt to become, in the hands of the 
narrow minded, instruments of power, wherewith to 
harrass the liberal. There are some who think that 
heaven and earth should pass sooner, than one jot, or 
one tittle, of the exact wording of the prescribed creed 
and order of their church be not fulfilled ; and any broth- 
er that offends in one point, they hold to be guilty of 
all, and obnoxious to ecclesiastical censure. They put 
their strait-jacket upon the limbs of Charity, who loves 
freedom as she loves truth, and make their narrow views 
the jail limits, within which she walks afflicted and con- 
fined. 

It is not my design to discuss the subject of creeds 
at all, or to begin to wade in those troubled w T aters ; but 
I can hardly help expressing a conviction, that the 
tendency of creeds, especially when enforced to the 
letter, is just the other way from that which is claimed 
for them. As to the entire uniformity which is aimed 
at by means of them, this is not attainable, as all expe- 
rience shows. And if the end itself be not attainable, 
still less is it attainable by the means relied on. The 
attempt to force an agreement is likely to result in the 
opposite. Agreement, so far as it is attainable, must be 
voluntary and unconstrained. The human conscience, 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 43 

made free by its Creator, revolts at the idea of bondage 
to any human authority. This reluctance is in none 
stronger than in the truest sons of the gospel ; who have 
an injunction from their Lord, to call no man Father 
upon earth ; for one is their Father, which is in heaven, 
and one is their Master, even Christ ; and an apostolic 
exhortation to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ 
hath made them free, — having reference to this very 
subject, the imposition of a creed ; namely, that of the 
Jews, upon the Galatian converts. The tendency of 
religion itself is, to liberate the conscience from mere 
human authority, (viewed as such.) and to subject it to 
God alone. 

With regard to the Westminster and Savoy Confes- 
sions, which were formally adopted by the early New 
England churches, and are still esteemed by us, as 
systems of truth, they have never had the authority of 
standards with us, as some have supposed. They orig- 
inated in England. They were consented to, " for sub- 
stance of doctrine/' by the New England churches, in- 
stead of drawing up a confession for themselves, (which 
they have never done,) for the sake of declaring their 
doctrinal agreement with Christians on the other side of 
the water ; — who with all their disputes about church 
order, were remarkably agreed, in the main, in respect 
to theology, — Churchmen, Presbyterians, Congregation- 
alists, and Baptists ; as their several confessions show. 

But these confessions, were never to my knowledge, 
set up as standards, and made of the like authority 



44 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 






with us, as confessions are with other communions. No 
candidate for the ministry is required to subscribe 
them, ex animo, or otherwise ; no church adopts them 
for its private use ; nor is reference ever made to them, 
so far as I know, in cases of discipline for heresy ; nor 
is it probable that Congregationalists generally would 
subscribe, without reserve, or modification, to every 
thing which they contain. They can no otherwise claim 
to be our standards than the XXXIX Articles of the 
Church of England can ; for those Articles were regar- 
ded by our fathers as exhibiting the same doctrinal views 
as the confessions in question, and were owned and con- 
sented to in the same manner.* Indeed, they regard- 
ed that very creed as their own, and knew no other, it is 
believed, previous to the synod of 1648. All these con- 
fessions, have the authority of truth, with us, so far as 
they are believed to agree with the Bible ; — and it is be- 
lieved, that, regarded as systems, though there be ex- 
ceptions to some of their particular statements, they are 

* See Heads of Agreement, appended to the Saybrook Plat- 
form, Article VIII. See, also, Preface to the confession by the 
Cambridge Synod, where they say it was not on account of any 
doctrinal disagreement with the Church of England that caused 
their separation. It must not, however, be supposed that the 
dominant party in that church received those Articles in the true 
spirit and import of them. Far from it. They were men of 
other views than those of the men they persecuted. "My 
lords," said a British statesman in Parliament, " we have a 
Calvinistic creed, an Armiuian clergy, and a Popish liturgy." 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 45 

far nearer to " the faithful word," than the loose Armin- 
mn systems which stand opposed to them. They have 
no other authority than this. And the same may be 
said of our Platforms. They are lights which all are 
free to use, or not, as they please. 

9. The things which most distinguish the Congrega- 
tional plan from others, are these two : the importance 
it gives to the suffrages of the brotherhood, in matters 
of discipline, and government ; and the independence 
of the churches of foreign control, or supervision : 
which two things may be stated in one, namely, the 
the self- government of the churches. In other systems 
the powers of government are vested in the officers, 
chiefly in the clergy, exclusive of the brotherhood. 
In the Congregational, they are vested in the church as 
a body, including its officers ; the latter acting, in their 
official capacity, as the guides and executives of the 
church. 

These powers are vested thus in the church, 
1st. Because it was so done in the New Testament 
Churches, as our references to the Scriptures show. 
Our Savior himself gives such power to the churches. 
Mat. xviii. IT, 18.* 

* To the independence and self-government of the primitive 
churches, we have the testimony of Mosheim. " In those 
primitive times, (says that respected historian,) each Christian 
church was composed of the people, the presiding officers, and 
the assistants, or -deacons. — The highest authority was in the 



46 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

2dly. It would seem to be the natural right of the 
churches, as voluntary societies, to govern themselves, 
— unless this right is denied them in the New Testa- 
ment ; which is not done, but on the contrary, the right 
is there confirmed to them, as has been shown. The 
exercise of this right is also necessary to the due per- 

people, or the whole body of Christians; for even the apostles 
themselves inculcated by their example, that nothing of any 
moment was to be done or determined on, but with the knowl- 
edge and consent of the brotherhood. Acts i. 15 : vi. 3 : xv. 
4 : xxi. 22." — " The assembled people, therefore, elected their 
own rulers and teachers, or by their authoritative consent re- 
ceived them, when nominated to them. They also by their 
suffrages rejected or confirmed the laws, that were proposed 
by their rulers, in their assemblies ; they excluded profligate 
and lapsed brethren, and restored them ; they decided the con- 
troversies and disputes that arose ; &c." And this order of 
things, the same historian finds to have continued for near two 
centuries. " During a great part of this [the second] century 
all the churches continued to be, as at first, independent of each 
other, or were connected by no consociations or confederations. 
Each church was a kind of little independent republic, govern- 
ed by its own laws, which were enacted, or at least sanctioned, 
by the people."— Dr. Murdock's Edition, 1832, Vol. I. pp. 81, 
82, 86. 

Mosheim has, of course, no reference in these passages to 
modern Congregationalism, but has his eye simply upon the 
primitive churches, and the matters of fact concerning them. 
There can be no doubt that he has exhibited them as they 
were, the same being evident from the New Testament itself; 
and the description exactly answers to our Congregational 
system. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 47 

formance of duties which are enjoined upon the body, 
those namely, of watchfulness and discipline ; which 
cannot be performed, and, in point of fact, are not 
performed, at least according to the intent and letter of 
them, in churches whose government is aristocratic, as 
may be noticed hereafter. 

3dly. The powers in question are no less safely, than 
they are scripturally, confided to the brotherhood. It 
is believed that the churches, with their pastors, are 
competent to the maintenance of their own purity, 
peace, and order, according to the laws of Christ ; and 
that the powers requisite to this are likely to be used 
as conscientiously and judiciously, and are as little lia- 
ble to abuse or neglect, in their hands, as in the hands 
of church officers alone. Power in the hands of a few, 
in a hierarchy particularly, (such is the nature of man) 
is prone to be consequential and dictatorial. It delights 
in the show and exercise of authority, and in the sub- 
missive reverence of its subjects ; and too often has its 
own importance and preservation in view, not less than 
the interests for which it professes to legislate. I cjo 
not aver that it always assumes this bearing, actually, 
but such is its tendency, as there is too much melan- 
cholly history to show, — though I am happy to know 
that protestant churches have often, perhaps I ought to 
say generally, been governed, under aristocratic forms, 
with a pious regard to the will of God and the good of 
the people. But, still, how many have been the abuses 
of these forms of government ! How many their neg- 



48 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

lects ! How often have high church prerogatives and 
powers — lordly in nature, name, and exercise ; and as- 
pired to by improper men, if they have not spoiled the 
simplicity of good men — been exerted in ways immense- 
ly injurious to religion, — immensely foreign to its na- 
ture and interests as a spiritual thing, and oppressive 
and distressing to the most conscientious of its sub- 
jects ; and how often, also, have they been negligent 
and indifferent where corruption and disorders ; doctrin- 
al and moral, have demanded their exercise ! 

The government of the churches vested in them- 
selves, is a very different thing from a government sole- 
ly by officers. From its nature here, it is incapable of 
ostentation or aggrandizement, or of far-reaching abus- 
es. Its exercise, in the hands of the brotherhood, is 
the humble discharge of duties, where all are alike re- 
sponsible, and alike concerned in the consequences ; 
where the power of each, if any be disposed to use it 
improperly, is balanced by the equal voice and vote of 
the others ; and where, in cases of censure, particularly, 
each is reminded to do what he does, " in the spirit of 
meekness ; considering himself, lest he also be tempt- 
ed." There may be in a reverend assembly of divines, 
or house of bishops, or other formal legislative or judi- 
cial body, more learning and gravity, but there is not 
always more simplicity and prayerfulness, than in the 
humble church meeting ; whose very want of the con- 
sequence which learning and office give, makes them 
the more self distrustful and circumspect, in what they 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 49 

do, and the more disposed, in their lack of wisdom, to 
ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and up- 
braideth not. 

4thly. The discipline of the church is a different 
thing in the hands of the church, from what it is in mere- 
ly official hands. It is another and a better thing. 

In the first place, we want the aid of the brotherhood 
in our endeavors to reclaim offenders. A member will 
often deal with a fellow^member, — a plain man with a 
plain man — more hopefully than a bishop, or any other 
church officer can. They are better acquainted, and 
understand each other better; and have more that is 
common between them, of language and sympathy. 
This is precisely the means which Christ has appointed 
in his rule, in the xviiith of Matthew. He does not di- 
rect the pastor, rector, or session, to take the offender in 
hand, immediately ; but a brother is to deal with him, in 
the first instance alone : then with one or two others ; 
and then the church as a body. At the same time, the 
pastor may use his influence in addition to theirs. The 
benefit of this method is such, and so obvious, that I 
think that those who know what it is by experience, wilj 
not willingly exchange it for others. 

Again, the censures of the church are more effectual, 
proceeding from the brotherhood. They are another 
thing in their nature, and another thing in their efficacy. 
A censure proceeding from the authority of a church 
officer, or church judicatory, is an official act, and is felt 
to be no more than this by the subject of it : but pro- 



50 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

ceeding from the brotherhood, the equals and associates 
of the offender, it has the nature of public opinion, and 
falls, as such, with peculiar force upon his spirit. It is 
so felt by him, and by the church ; it is so regarded by 
" them that are without ;" and I doubt not that such it 
was intended to be, by him who instituted the disci- 
pline. c But ye brethren, note that man, and have no 
company with him, that he may be ashamed.' The 
shame arises from his having forfeited the Christian es- 
teem, and consequently the fellowship, of the society 
which had received him. He is disowned — stricken 
from their list. It is evidently the design of our Sa- 
vior, in the result to which he brings us, in his rule, and 
of much else that is said on discipline, in the New Testa- 
ment, to place the offender, not under the simple ban of 
official authority, but, — which is much more painful and 
subduing, — in the strong light of an unfavorable opin- 
ion, expressed by the voice of the society towards him, 
" as an heathen man and a publican," and one not to 
be companied with as a Christian. And so, on the oth- 
er hand, if the delinquent be restored, it is the same 
popular voice, or opinion, that restores him. It is that 
which alone can restore him, in reality ; for the good 
opinion of the society is that to which he is to be re- 
stored, and not merely to a " name to live." An act of 
power may restore him to his place in form merely, but 
cannot restore him to confidence and esteem : without 
which his restoration is a nullity. 

This, then, is the peculiar efficacy of the Congrega- 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 51 

fcional method of discipline. It lies in the expressed 
opinion of the brotherhood. It lies there, I mean, so 
far as its efficacy is derived at d\\from rmn. Of course 
the offender is to be sensible that he has broken the 
laws of Christ, and done dishonor to religion ; and from 
that source chiefly his compunctions should arise. 

And how much is discipline worth, where such is not 
its efficacy ? How much is it ever worth, as to its mor- 
al effect, if it do not come to this, — if it be not sustain- 
ed by the voice of the church, as a body ? How much 
effect will the bare decision of a judge, or a bench of 
judges, have upon the mind of a citizen, so long as he 
is sustained under it by the popular voice and sympa- 
thy ? And how much salutary moral effect did all the 
pompous solemnities, mulcts, imprisonments, penances, 
or anathemas, ever have, that have proceeded merely 
from mitred authority, and commissioned power, — in- 
dependently of the voice of the people ? 

If the efficacy of discipline must, after all, then, de- 
pend on the opinion of the brotherhood, why not come 
to that directly, and surely, as we do in our Congrega- 
tional way ? The Congregational system " arrives by a 
direct road, at the point which other modes, [if they 
reach it at all,] reach circuitously, and by implication. 
It speaks the voice of the church, and always speaks 
just as the church thinks. It is an expression of the 
sentiments and convictions of the whole body. As such, 
it has a force in honoring Christ's laws, and in rousing 
the conscience of an offender, which other modes have 



52 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

vainly essayed to obtain by imposing forms, solemn 
warnings, and dreadful denunciations."* 

The independence of the churches is a necessary part 
of their self-government. Their powers become a nul- 
lity if they resign themselves to a superior jurisdiction. 
If they are not competent to determine ultimately for 
themselves, if their doings either want confirming, or 
are liable to reversal, by a higher power, they are virtu- 
ally void. 

Our Savior himself gives this ultimate power to the 
church, Matt, xviii. 17, 18. He does not say, If the 
offending member neglect to hear the church, let the 
case be carried up to some higher tribunal ; but the case 
is to be terminated there. 

And while this ultimate power of deciding, in cases of 
discipline particularly, is important to the fellowship of 
the members, (for how can they have fellowship with a 
member whom they are forced to retain against their 
consent ?) I, for one, am persuaded, that cases general- 
ly can be determined better by the church, than by any 
other tribunal. The church where the case arises is best 
acquainted with the facts and parties ; and it is not dif- 
ficult to conceive, that acting under a solemn sense of 
their responsibility as the ultimate judges, they will act 
more cautiously and judiciously, than if acting under 
the impression, that if they commit an error, there is 

* Ch. Spect. 1331. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 53 

another tribunal to revise and correct their doings. And 
in addition to this, there is an advantage in the compar- 
ative privacy and dispatch, which is secured by this 
method. A matter is settled sooner, and with less pub- 
licity, when it is settled within the church, than when it 
is carried abroad, by one remove and another. It can- 
not be carried abroad thus, without extending, more or 
less, its agitating effects, and its unpleasant notoriety. 
Settled at home, it is comparatively hidden and confin- 
ed. Settled in a public judicatory, it is heard in its dis- 
cussions, and reported on its journals ; so that that 
which was done in a corner is proclaimed upon the 
house-tops. Why not apply our Savior's rule to church- 
es, as well as to members ? Let their private difficulties 
be settled in private, as far as they may. 

I do not mean that cases should never be carried be- 
yond the church in which they originate ; but it should 
be done for advice, rather than adjudication, and the 
more seldom it is done the better. It may look well in 
theory, to provide for a succession of appeals, — it may 
look like a scrupulous regard to justice, — but I cannot 
help thinking it an evil in fact. We know how it is in 
civil litigation. The parties, because they may, are dis- 
posed to carry their causes from one bench up to anoth- 
er, till they come to the last; and will never be satisfied 
that justice is done them, so long as there is a higher court 
to review the decisions of the lower ; nor are satisfied 
then, any better than at the first, if they are satisfied as 
well ; while the community at large, from seeing the case 

5* 



54 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

so long and successively debated, are not unlikely to be 
impressed with a belief that the case is complicated, and 
justice doubtful. 

The early Congregationalists of New England were 
very tenacious of the self-government of the churches ; 
as their descendants, generally, and those of England., 
are now. I will not enlarge on the subject farther than 
to observe, that the Wisdom of our fathers in this partic- 
ular, as in many others, receives increasing confirmation 
from year to year. It is more and more a matter of 
experience, that church difficulties are soonest and most 
satisfactorily healed by the churches themselves ; and 
that when it is necessary to go to a council, persuasion 
is better than authority; that is, an advisory council, 
which is the Congregational mode, is better than an 
ecclesiastical judicatory, or other law-dispensing power. 

If this be so, the question naturally arises, Have the 
sons of New England been doing well, in neglecting, 
as they have, the approved wisdom of their fathers, in 
rearing up so many churches, in new settlements, on 
another plan than theirs ?* If they deemed the Con- 

* It is computed that 400 churches, or more, have been gath- 
ered in the west for the Presbyterian church by the benevolence 
of Connecticut alone. The men and means were furnished 
here, and sent out chiefly by the Connecticut Missionary Socie- 
ty. And I have seen it stated, by high Presbyterian authority, 
that not less than fifteen hundred of their churches are essen- 
tially Congregational in their origin and habits. A high com- 
pliment both to the zeal and liberality of New England men. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 55 

gregational plan worth all that it cost them , is it not worth 
preserving and extending by us, among their emigrant 
descendants in the West and South ? Its fruits here are 
confessed to be excellent : is it not worth as much there 
as here ? Would not its fruits be as valuable upon the 
lakes and streams of the West, as they are upon the 
shores and rivers of the East ? Will not the vine bear 
transplanting from the comparatively barren soil of New 
England, to the rich bottoms of the great Valley ? 

Finally ; It is no small argument in favor of this whole 
system of polity, that it is eminently adapted to make 
practical men. Though the position be admitted, which 
has been so commonly admitted in ecclesiastical con- 
troversies, that there is no prescribed form of church 
order in the New Testament, a position which I am not 
disposed to meddle with ; — though I cannot but observe 
that the New Testament gives us precedents : for the 
New Testament churches certainly had some order, and 
it is obvious what it was ; whether it was intended to 
be always obligatory, or not : — if the position, I say, be 
admitted, still there is a principle which, plainly, ought 
to guide us in the framing of our systems ; which is this. 
The ends of church order must be the same as the ends 
of truth itself It must have been the divine intention 

Add these 1500 churches which are Congregational in spirit to 
those which are such in form, and there is not in the world a 
more intelligent, efficient, and pious body of Christians. 



56 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

that they should conspire together to one result ; the 
latter as ancillary to the former. Whatever the system 
be, therefore, which we adopt, it should be such as to 
concur with and promote those ends of truth ; and that 
is the best system which does this most effectually : so 
that admitting that thfc New Testament does prescribe 
no order, it does not follow from this, that it is a matter 
of indifference what our order is, and that we have un- 
qualified liberty to devise what system we will. 

What then are the ends of religious truth ? They 
are, first, to make men pious ; secondly, to make them 
useful. First, piety, then activity, (or zeal.) directed 
by knowledge, in the cause of Christ. That is, the ends 
of truth are, in a word, to make practical Christians : 
— with a view of course — that I be not accused, in 
these theologically captious times, of making too nar- 
row an account of the matter — with a view, of course, 
to the glory of God, their own salvation, and the good 
of men. " Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear 
much fruit." 

Now this the Congregational system eminently does. 
It makes practical Christians. While other systems ex- 
clude the laity from ecclesiastical affairs, altogether, or 
in a great degree, regarding them only as worshipers and 
tax-payers, the Congregational churches devolve upon 
their members the responsible duties of discipline and 
government. They are thus called habitually to act to- 
gether. Their wisdom and piety are habitually put in 
exercise ; and by this means are necessarily increased. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 57 

Each church is a school of mutual instruction in the 
great principles and precepts of the gospel ; where the 
younger are benefitted by the experience of the older, 
and all by the collected wisdom of the body, and by 
that of the pastor, their common guide. And the re- 
sult is strikingly obvious, in the known practical charac- 
ter of this body of Christians. Look at their move- 
ments in all the practical concerns of religious and so- 
cial life. Look at their colleges, and schools, and other 
institutions, designed and sustained by them, for the 
good of the world. Look at their efficiency in mission- 
ary operations, and in all movements of reform. They 
are not merely devout worshipers within church walls, 
and decent people without ; but, notoriously and emi- 
nently, they are intelligent, liberal, and efficient busi- 
ness Christians. They serve God, as well as worship 
Him, 



CHAPTER III. 
CHURCH COVENANT AND WATCH, 

Having looked at the principles of these churches', 
we proceed to their practice. The duties of church 
membership will of course be prominent, but much, al- 
so, will appear, in the chapters which follow, which will 
concern the congregation at large. 

On becoming members of the church, besides profes- 
sing our faith, we enter into a covenant. This covenant 
is, first, with God ; and embraces the duties of piety 
towards him : secondly, with the members ; with whom 
we engage to live in Christian affection and harmony ; 
to walk with them in a due observance of ordinances ; 
to watch over them in faithfulnes and love, expecting 
the same from them ; to support the discipline of the 
church, and to submit to the same; and, in general, to 
observe and do all which the interests of the body, 
and of the members, may justly require of us, and to 
refrain from all which may reasonably grieve, or injure 
them. 

To love the brethren, next to the love of God, is first 
among these duties. Love is the soul of all. But I 
pass over whatever pertains to the religion of the affec- 
tions, and confine myself, according to my design, to 



60 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

the practical concerns of the religious social state. The 
first which I shall mention is, the 

MUTUAL WATCH OF THE MEMBERS. 

We covenant together to watch over each othei's in- 
firmities and errors ; to observe each other with the eye 
of Christian affection and concern, and to give and re- 
ceive reproof, as occasion may require. 

Any member knowing of any thing in another, which 
is inconsistent with his character or hopes as a Christian, 
whether it be some impropriety of behavior, error of 
faith, or neglect of duty, is bound to notice it in a way 
of friendly admonition ; or to take such other measures 
as he may conceive to be best suited to his amendment. 
" Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which 
are spiritual restore such an one." "Take heed to 
yourselves : If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke 
him; and if he repent, forgive him." This was a law of 
the Jewish church, as well as of the Christian. a Thou 
shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin 
upon him."* 

Positive faults are the first objects of this duty ; but 
besides these, we are bound to notice the danger 
brother may be in, of committing a fault. If we se 
him exposed to fall, — heedless of the pit that is before 
him, or parleying with the enemy, — we do wrong to 
wait till he actually falls, before we admonish him. 

* Gal. vi. 1 ; Luke xth. 3; Levit. xix. 17. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 61 

There are those who, through their peculiar weaknesses 
or temptations, are ready to fall, and that daily, into 
" the sin which doth so easily beset" them, and need 
our kind preventive vigilance. Insensible of the ap- 
proach of temptation, or too weak to resist it, how kind 
then, how salutary, the faithful voice of the brother, 
who, true to the trust which he has assumed and given, 
comes once and often, as the case may require, to waken, 
strengthen, and recall them ! It was such a duty as this, 
that Jesus enjoined on Peter : And when thou art con- 
verted, — that is, after thy fall and recovery, in the mat- 
ter of denying Christ, — strengthen thy brethren. The 
same is enjoined on all. " Bear ye one another's burdens, 
and so fulfil the law of Christ." " Looking diligently lest 
any man fail of the grace of God ; lest any root of bit- 
terness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be 
defiled ; lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, 
as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birth- 
right."* 

1 think, too, that that general state of coldness, or 
declension in religious feeling, into which all are too apt 
to fall, is within the province of this duty. If we see 
some " waxing cold ;" falling off from the accustomed 
prayer meeting ; no more speaking out of the abund- 
ance of the heart, of the things of the kingdom ; " sunk 
down with sleep ;" it is incumbent on us, I do not say 
to rebuke them, but affectionately to " stir them up by 

* Luke xxii. 32; Gal. vi. 2; Heb. xii. 15, 16. 
6 



62 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 



putting them in remembrance.' 5 " But ye, brethren 
(should we say to these drowsy ones,) are the children 
of light, and the children of the day : we are not of the 
night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep, as 
do others ; but let us watch and be sober. For they 
that sleep, sleep in the night ; and they that be drunk- 
en, are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of 
the day, be sober, putting on the breast-plate of faith 
and love ; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. 
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain 
salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, 
whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with 
him."* 

The spirit and manner in which this duty should be 
performed, should be always kind and brotherly, — as far 
as possible from harshness and reproach. There is no 
occasion for reproof being otherwise than both kindly giv- 
en and kindly received ; for it is in reality a kindly act. 

Our manner should be frank and unembarrassed ; as 
though we were conscious of both doing our duty and 
acting the part of a friend. Reproof, in itself unpleas- 
ant enough, is more disagreeable when it is administered 
in a timid, suspicious, half uttered expression and de- 
meanor ; and is positively offensive if it be done unfeel- 
ingly, or angrily. 

We should be faithful in this duty ; but at the same 

• 1 Thess. ?.4— 1G. 






THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 63 

time it will be well to remember, that a merely meddle- 
some, ox fault-finding habit, is no part of the proper 
performance of it. There will be serious occasions 
enough to require our faithfulness, without our seeking 
them in the lawful affairs of our neighbors, or in those 
mere infirmities which are common to the flesh. 

I need not remark that it is as much our duty to re- 
ceive reproof as to give it. He who reseats and rejects 
reproof, when justly and kindly given, violates his cove- 
nant, and wrongs his brother. " Confess your faults 
one to another, and pray for one another, that ye may 
be healed. 57 

This mutual w r atch of the brotherhood is of much im- 
portance. It is one of the excellent benefits of church 
union ; and is valued as such by every truly spiritual 
member. " Let the righteous smite me ; it shall be a 
kindness : and let him reprove me ; it shall be an excel- 
lent oil, which shall not break my head," " Faithful are 
the wounds of a friend." 

The faithful performance of this duty has no tenden- 
cy to promote disgusts and alienations, as some may 
imagine ; but on the contrary, as it is one of the best 
proofs of love and confidence in brethren, so it tends to 
produce and confirm those affections. 

The men of the world are under each other's watch, 
as truly as the church; but in another manner. It is 
not because they have mutually pledged themselves to 
do so. — though God has made it as much their duty as 



64 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

ours ; it is not to prevent or recover each other from sin ; 
but the prophet describes it, thus : " All my familiars 
watched for my halting." 

There are two things which show how little of true 
benevolent interest there is among mankind for one 
another. One is, that there is so little salutary, friendly 
reproof among them ; and the other, that there is so 
much evil speaking. Many will abstain from reproving 
a neighbor, which is the kindest office of friendship ; 
and at the same time, will go up and down proclaiming 
his errors, which is the unkindest office of an enemy. 
" I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. 
Report, say they, and we will report it." L& it never 
be so in the church. 

It was ever a characteristic of the best men, that they 
were faithful reprovers. Such were the prophets and 
apostles, and such, above all, was our Savior. On the 
other hand, the most wicked men are ever indifferent to 
the sins of others. They say it is not their business to 
look after their neighbors; and they demand, with Cain, 
a Am I my brother's keeper ?" 

It is one of the important effects of this mutual watch 
of the members, that it is a great preventive of church 
discipline. Most of the grosser sins committed by mem- 
bers, are preceded by lesser, but obvious departures from 
the ways of God : and if the unhappy wanderer had 
been affectionately admonished at the first stages of his 
delinquency, — take the intemperate for example, — it 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 65 

might have saved not only him from a grievous fall, but 
the church itself from the dishonor and grief of a case 
of discipline. 

There is more hope of reclaiming a brother at the 
first stages of his sin, then when it is aggravated. He 
has then more character and conscience, and less infir- 
mity and blindness ; and the private labors of his breth- 
ren, which then are proper, are more winning, proba- 
bly, than the open and formidable dealing which after- 
wards is necessary. Let alone till the church takes up 
his case, he is not unlikely to regard its formal proce- 
dure, as an organized persecution, a regular setting to 
work to effect his disgrace ; which is a state of mind in 
the last degree unfavorable to his reformation. The 
case, at first curable, is become desperate before it is 
meddled with ; and is so regarded, probably, both by 
the church and by him. Taken up late and reluctantly 
by the former, it is resisted, or sullenly submitted to, by 
the latter ; and ends as both anticipate. 

Our discipline, in too many instances, begins too 
late ! too late for the claims of duty, and too late for 
the ends of discipline. The pledge of the members to 
watch over the offender have been culpably neglected; 
and this neglect, though it be no justification, or, per- 
haps, mitigation, of his sin, belongs to its history, and 
makes them accessory to a brother's ruin. 

To conclude ; I cannot but think that this duty of 
watchfulness and reproof, so necessary, so naturally un- 

6* 



66 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

pleasant to discharge, so much neglected, is peculiarly 
pleasing to God, and that it will be peculiarly rewarded. 
" Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are 
unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, 
be patient toward all;" and remember that you are 
bound to this, by Christ's command, and by your solemn 
covenant. 



CHAPTER IV. 
€HURCH DISCIPLINE. 

The ends of discipline in the church are, 

1. The reclaiming of such as fall into sin. " Re- 
store such an one." " That the spirit may be saved in 
the day of the Lord Jesus." Gal vi. 1. 1 Cor. v. 5. 

2. The preventing of sin in others. " Them that sin 
rebuke before all, that others also may fear." 1 Tim. 
v. 20. 

3. The purity of the church. " Know ye not that a 
little leaven leaveneth the whole lump ?" " Purge out, 
therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, 
as ye are [profess to be] unleavened;" that is, cast out 
iniquity, that ye may be a pure society, as ye profess to 
be. M For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye 
are." 1 Cor. v. 6, 7; and iii. 17. 

4. The character of the church and the honor of re- 
ligion in the view of the world. " Ye are the salt of 
the earth : but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith 
shall it be salted ? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but 
to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." 
Matt. v. 13. 

5. The preventing the divine displeasure. " For if 
we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged." 
1 Cor. xi. 29—32. 



68 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

These ends of discipline show its importance. But 
of this I shall speak hereafter. 

The means of discipline are private persuasion and 
reproof, admonition before the church, suspension, and 
exclusion from its communion. No other pains or pen- 
alties whatever, such as fines, penances, imprecations, 
(such as the Catholics use) and the like, are allowable. 
The New Testament knows nothing of them. The 
discipline it inculcates is wholly of a corrective and mor- 
al kind, and not punitive. 

Cases requiring discipline are commonly mentioned 
under two classes ; namely, private offences, and pub- 
lie offences. 

PRIVATE OFFENCES. 

Private offences are those which are of a strictly pri- 
vate nature, committed by one member against another ; 
and which being not known to the world, or not pub- 
licly scandalous, are such as may be settled in a private 
way. 

The rule respecting, this kind of offences is thus laid 
down by Christ. 

" If thy brother trespass against thee, go and tell him 
his fault between thee and him alone : if he shall hear 
thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not 
hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in 
the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may 






THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 69 

be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, 
tell it unto the church : but if he neglect to hear the 
church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a 
publican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall 
bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoev- 
er ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.' 5 
Matt, xviii. 15—18. 

This rule is so plain that it scarcely needs comment. 
Here are three steps to be taken ; each successive one 
being necessary only in case of the failure of the pre- 
ceding one. 

If a fellow member has injured you, your first duty is 
to go and tell him his fault in private, and endeavor, 
in Christian sincerity and faithfulness, to bring him to a 
just sense and acknowledgment of it. Tell him his fault. 
Not that you are in no case to mention it to others. 
This may be necessary for inquiry, or advice. But to 
make it a matter of your open talk, or censure, is con- 
trary to the precept, and tends to embarrass and defeat 
the interview 7 . 

If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother ; 
you have recovered him from his error ; and have at- 
tached him to yourself, more strongly, perhaps, than he 
was before ; for these scenes of ingenuous acknowledge- 
ment and forgiveness between brethren, have an effect 
mutually to reveal character, inspire confidence, and ce- 
ment affection. If he acknowledge his fault and is sor- 
ry for it, the matter is ended. You are thenceforth to 
remember it only to love him the more for the ingenu- 



70 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

ous Christian feeling which prevailed with him, (so con- 
trary to human nature,) to confess and regret his error ; 
and to quicken the feeling of your own infirmities and 
sins, which daily need the forgiveness of your heavenly 
Father, if not also of your fellow men. Let there be 
no unchristian harshness, triumph, or contempt, at the 
time of the interview, nor coldness afterwards. Thou 
hast gained thy brother: let Ihat suffice. 

But if he^refuse to listen to you, you are then to take 
the Second step. " Then take ivith thee one or two 
more, fyc." Let the brethren chosen for this purpose, 
be of good judgment, of acknowledged piety, and not 
reasonably objectionable to the offending brother. If 
their endeavors joined with yours prove unsuccessful, it 
then remains to tell it to the church. This done, your 
duty is discharged. 

As to the manner of laying it before the church, it is 
generally expected, I believe, that the complaining broth- 
er will do it in person ; but if he feels incompetent to 
this, there is no objection to his doing it through a judi- 
cious brother, or through the pastor.* He should do it, 
not in the spirit and manner of an accuser, but with 
modesty and regret, as becomes a brother. 

Being brought before the church, it becomes its duty, 
in the presence of the parties, with all patience and can- 
dor, to hear and judge the case. If the accused be 
found truly charged with the fault, and still refuse saU 

* Carnb, Plat. Chap. xiv. § 2, 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 71 

.action, it will be the duty of the church, after due 
means used, to exclude him from its communion : Let 
him be as an heathen man and a publican ; and our 
Savior declares, (verse 18,) that heaven will confirm its 
decision. 

" Of these just and gentle proceedings, (say Dr, 
Dwight,) the final sentence of excommunication is a 
proper close, and is perfectly fitted to reform an obsti- 
nate brother. He who will not 1 be won by the mild 
measures of tenderness, will never feel either his char- 
acter or condition but by dint of distress. Should he 
continue obstinate in this situation ; the church will be 
freed from a spot on its reputation ; an obstacle to its 
communion : and a nuisance to the religion which it 
professes. At the same time, the spirit with which eve- 
ry part of this discipline is to be administered, and with- 
out which it exists in form only, precludes every reason- 
able fear of haste, injustice, or severity." 

I must dismiss this class of offences with two or three 
remarks. 

1 . With regard to the offence. It must be a real and 
serious fault, and not an imaginary one. Things of or- 
dinary occurrence, and such as result from the common 
imperfection of our nature, ought not to interrupt the 
fellowship of brethren, much less, to occupy the church. 

2. With regard to the offending member, let it be ob- 
served that his refusing to give satisfaction is a new and 



72 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

distinct offence at each step of the process ; and es- 
pecially the last, — compared with which, the original 
offence may be a thing of minor importance. The 
original fault was an injury, and perhaps not a very 
grievous one, to a private individual. But his subse- 
quent conduct with regard to it, is a settled disregard 
of private justice, the voice of the church, and the au- 
thority of Christ. Nor let it be said that he is ex- 
communicated for that private offence alone. It is for 
the whole proceeding ; and especially for his last act, in 
obstinately refusing to hear the church. It is his neglect- 
ing to " hear the church," more, apparently, than for his 
private offence, that our Savior requires his excommu- 
nication. For by this last act of perverseness, this per- 
tinacious, if not contemptuous, diregard of the senti- 
ments and christian endeavors of the brotherhood, he 
shows himself no longer worthy, nor indeed capable, of 
their communion. 

If the offending member refuse to appear before the 
church, being duly notified, he of course refuses to hear 
the church, and the church must proceed accordingly. 

It may be also observed here, that the offender ought 
to forestall this whole process, by going of himself to 
the injured party. Mat. v. 23, 24. 

3. With regard to the member aggrieved, it should 
be remembered that his duty is explicit and imperative. 
He is not at liberty to neglect the course prescribed, nor 
to substitute some other ; but is bound to take the pre- 



THE PRACTICAL, CHURCH MEMBER. 73 

else steps, and all of them, should it be necessary, which 
the rule requires. 

You may say, if your brother has injured you, it is 
his duty to come to you and acknowledge it. And this 
is true ; it is his duty ; but if he does n6t do so, it is 
yours to go to him. This is the direction, this is your 
duty ; and I do not know that our Savior would have 
you wait a day for the other,— he does not intimate that 
he would, — before you go to perform it. 

You may say, again, that you would rather put up 
with the injury, or pass it over, than be at the trouble 
of such a process. But this you are not allowed to do, 
it appears ; for you must remember that your offending 
brother is concerned in the thing, as well as you, and 
more than you ; for it is a greater calamity to have done 
the wrong, than to have suffered it. You may be wil- 
ling to bear the injury in silence; but may you suffer 
the sin upon him ? He has done a thing which he 
ought to repent of; and must repent of, to be forgiven 
of God. Not only his character as a Christian, but his 
hopes as a Christian, demand this of him : and you are 
the person best fitted by the circumstances, as being 
concerned in the injury, and specially required by Christ, 
to endeavor to bring him to such repentance. You owe 
this to him. You owe it to the church ; the sins of 
whose members you are not at liberty to be indifferent to 
in any case, and particularly in this. And you owe it 
to yourself; for your feelings can hardly be right to sit 

7 



74 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 






down with this brother, nor his towards you, probably, 
till the fault is acknowledged; and confidence restored. 

4. The duty of the church is likewise explicit and 
imperative. It is bound to receive the complaint when 
regularly brought before it; and to dispose of it ac- 
cording to the will of Christ. 

Such is our Savior's rule. And let us observe how 
strictly in this, as in other things, the Congregational 
system has conformed itself to the scriptures. There 
are systems of church order which are incompatible with 
this rule. A private member, under those schemes, may, 
if he choose, (but it is not, I believe, expected of him,) 
take the first and second steps ; but what then ? Shall 
he " tell it to the church ?" But the church has no cog- 
nizance of the matter. The power to discipline is not 
in the church, but in the hands of the clergy alone; 
or, in some cases, of the clergy and subordinate offi- 
cers. He may tell it to the rector ; or to " the preach- 
er in charge," if he will ; but these are not the church; 
and this is not the rule. Besides, if the church should 
be destitute of a minister, as often happens, what then ? 
The process stops, (supposing it to have been commen- 
ced ;) a thing which can never occur under the Con- 
gregational system ; because the church, though desti- 
tute of a minister, is still competent to discipline ; though 
the presence and aid of a pastor is very desirable. 

Is it said that the rector, or preacher, is the represento- 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 75 

live of the church ; or that he acts/or the church, and in 
its name and behalf? The answer does not satisfy us. 
He is not the church ; nor is the discipline proceeding 
from his authority the same thing, either to the subject 
of it, or to the church, as when it expresses the voice of 
the brotherhood. 

Where the scriptures have laid a duty directly upon 
a private member, or upon the church as a body, it does 
not satisfy the scriptures, that another person, or num- 
ber of persons, should undertake that duty for them. 
Take, for example, those passages where the church as 
a body, — the brethren, in so many words, are charged 
with the business of discipline; as 1 Cor. v. 4 — 7, 13; 
2 Thess. iii. 6. It is plain enough that the preach- 
er, or rector of the church, cannot discharge the duty, 
and exonerate the church ; inasmuch as he cannot be 
" gathered together" for the church ; nor fulfil the in- 
junctions, "Put away from among yourselves that wick- 
ed person ;" " Brethren, withdraw yourselves from 
every brother that walketh disorderly." They only up- 
on whom the duty is imposed are competent to dis- 
charge it. 

By what authority then has this express and salutary 
rule of Christ been laid aside ? How comes it to have 
been formally laid out of the schemes in question ; and 
to be still disused and made a dead letter to large por- 
tions of the church of Christ ? Where is the " apostolic 
commission" to construct systems of church order in 
such a shape as to abrogate, or modify, this more than 
apostolic law of Christ himself? 



76 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

OFFENCES OF A PUBLIC NATURE. 

The following are specified in the New Testament, 
as requiring the discipline of the church. 

1. Scandalous vices, or immoralities. " But now I 
have written unto you not to keep company, if any man 
that is called a brother, be a fornicator, or covetous, or 
an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, 
with such an one, no not to eat." — "Put away from 
among yourselves that wicked person." 1 Cor. v. 11, 
13. These are a specimen of such offences. The list 
may be enlarged from such passages as 1 Cor. vi. 10 ; 
2 Tim. hi. 2 — 5, and others. All open immoralities be- 
long to the catalogue. 

2. The denying of the essential truths of the gospel, 
or the embracing essential errors. " Though we, or an 
angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than 
that we have preached, let him be accursed." " If there 
come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive 
him not, &c. Gal. i. 8; 2 John 10, 1 1. Also, 1 Tim. vii 
3—5; 2 Tim. ii. 17, 18; Rev. ii. 14—16, 80; Gal. 
v. 12. 

These passages, relating primarily to teachers, are^con- 
structively applicable to private members. If we may 
not harbor false teachers, we may not tolerate false doc- 
trines among ourselves. In both cases, " they will in- 
crease unto more ungodliness, and their word will eat 
as doth a canker." 



inE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBLR. 77 

It may be difficult to say to what extent a person may 
err from the truth," and yet not be worthy of disci- 
pline or rejection. All truth is important ; but not all 
is fundamental ; and to some extent charity must be 
exercised. " Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, 
but not to doubtful disputations." But with regard to 
those truths, the denial of which would be subversive of 
the Christian system, there can be no question. Such 
doubtless are the doctrines of Christ's divinity and atone- 
ment ; regeneration by the Spirit ; justification by faith ; 
the necessity of a holy life ; and the future punishment 
of the impenitent. The denial of some of these is 
inconsistent with " holding the head ;" while others of 
them make Christ the minister of sin, and are licentious. 

3. Troubling the peace of the church by raising par- 
ties in it. " A man that is a heretic, after the first and 
second admonition, reject :" the word heretic, in the ori- 
ginal, meaning the leader of a faction, raised commonly 
on the ground of his peculiar doctrinal opinions; but 
applicable to any factious leader, whether the divis- 
ion be for doctrines, measures, or men. Tit. iii. 10; 
Rom. xvi. 17, 18 ; Gal. v. 12. 

The case here does not respect the morals of the in- 
dividual. He may be very eorrect in other respects, 
and even devout ; but this must not exempt him from 
discipline. So far from it, the more he has of these 
fair qualities, the more able he will be, "by good words 
and fpir speeches, to deceive the hearts of the simple." 

7* 



78 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

4. An idle, useless life ; with such unchristian pfac-* 
tices as an idle life begets. " For we hear that there 
are some which walk disorderly among you, working 
not at all, but are busy-bodies." " Not only idle, but 
tattlers also, and busy-bodies, speaking things which 
they ought not." 2 Thess. iii. 11—14. 1 Tim. v. 13. 
These things, ahvays grievous, and always requiring 
the private reproofs of the brethren, become, in aggra- 
vated cases, subjects for formal discipline. 

5. Neglecting to provide for one's dependent rela- 
tives, especially one's family, and leaving them either to 
want the comforts of life, or to live on charity, — wheth- 
er through indolence or covetousness. This is a sin 
against nature, justice, and religion. " If any provide 
not for his own, and specially for those of his own 
house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an 
infidel." 1 Tim. v. 8. 

6. Refusing to bear a reasonable part in the pecun- 
iary support of the gospel. If we consider that this is 
covetousness, (itself a disciplinable sin ;) that it is injus- 
tice ; for it robs the laborer of his hire, or robs others to 
make it good ; that it is disobedience to Christ, who has 
" ordained that they which preach the gospel should 
live of the gospel," and made it the duty of " him that 
is taught in the word to communicate unto him that 
teacheth, in all good things ;" and that it betrays such 
indifference to the gospel, and such overvaluing of the 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 79 

world, as is not far from denying the faith, in a manner 
" worse than an infidel ;" we cannot doubt that it is 
worthy of discipline. 

In addition to these specific cases, we have the gen- 
eral precept, " Withdraw yourselves from every brother 
that walketh disorderly." 2 Thess. iii. 6. What con- 
stitutes disorderly walking the enlightened moral sense 
of the church must determine. 

It will be perceived that these offences are all of a 
different character, and require a different treatment, 
from that referred to in the eighteenth of Matthew. 
There, the offence is supposed to concern two individ- 
uals, between whom if the matter be settled, discipline 
is satisfied.* But the offences enumerated here are 
scandalous and public. They concern the peace and 
purity of the church, and the honor of religion ; and 
are no more a trespass against one member than against 
them all ; who are all therefore, alike concerned to re- 

* I ought, perhaps, to have noticed under our Savior's rule r 
that some critics conjecture, (but not with confidence,) that 
the words against thee, (sig tie) shuuid be omitted ; being said to 
be wanting in some MSS. The passage is doubtless right, as it 
stands ; but allowing the omission, it would not materially af- 
fect the rule. Instead of applying only to things of a person- 
al nature between members, it would then include any sin 
which, being done in private, and known only to a few, might 
be privately healed. For sins publicly injurious, there is public 
discipline, which the rule of Christ does not supersede. 



80 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

move them. There a brother is injured ; but here, 
Christ is wounded, and Zion mourns. 

MANNER OF PROCEEDING. 

In the prosecution of cases of discipline, much must 
be left to discretion. Some require a more summary, 
and others a more prolonged and lenient course ; some 
may be healed more privately, others more openly : ac- 
cording as the nature of the offence and the interest of 
religion dictate. Those steps are to be taken which, in 
the exercise of a sound judgment, appear best adapted 
to secure the objects of discipline, and most agreeable 
to the laws of Christ. 

The first step, obviously, is for the church to satisfy 
itself of the fact of the offender's fault, with its quali- 
fying circumstances ; if this be not already apparent. 
For this purpose it may be necessary to institute an in- 
quiry, by means of a committee, or otherwise. It is 
then prepared to take such further steps as its wisdom 

may dictate. 

Charges should be distinctly specified ; and should 
be communicated to the accused, in writing commonly, 
in sufficient time for him to consider them, preparatory 
to his appearance before the church. They should be 
sustained by evidence. Rumor and presumption, though 
they may justify an inquiry on the part of the church, 
and often demand it, are not a basis upon which to 
proceed to formal acts of discipline. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 81 

As the reclaiming of the offender is the first object, 
commonly, it will be proper, in most cases, to labor with 
him in private. As the preventing of like sins in others, 
and the public credit of religion, are other objects to 
be regarded, it is necessary, in grievous cases, to cite 
the accused before the church, according to the direc- 
tion, 1 Tim. v. 20. If he there make confession, and 
the church be satisfied, to admonish and forgive him is 
all that is requisite. But if he appear not to be peni- 
tent, it is customary, (though some object to this, as 
having, in their view, no scripture warrant, but I think 
without good reason,) to suspend him from the com- 
munion, in the hope that time being given him for re- 
flection, and further means being used, he may come to 
repentance. If all fails, his excommunication termi- 
nates the proceeding. " This (says President Edwards,) 
with the counsels and admonitions by which it is to be 
followed, is the last means that the church is to use, in 
order to reclaim those members which are become vis- 
ibly wicked. If this be ineffectual, what is next to be 
expected is destruction without remedy." 

In cases extremely iniquitous, or shameful, it appears 
to be the duty of the church, as its first act, to assemble 
and cast the offender out. This the Corinthians were 
directed to do in the case of the incestuous person, 
1 Cor. v. There were no preparatory steps to be ta- 
ken. 

Some may question whether such summary dealing 
is suited to recover the offender, and on that account 



82 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

may scruple its lawfulness ; since the recovery of the 
offender is to be regarded, as well as the honor of reli- 
gion. 

But here are several things to be considered. 1. The 
objection is a matter of opinion. The objector thinks 
the case is so. But in the view of others, the immedi- 
ate excommunication of a heinous offender may be 
the means best suited to his recovery. It may be argued, 
that this solemn and sorrowful act of the church, ex- 
pressing at once its abhorrence of the crime and its 
sense of the deep injury done to religion, while the 
shame of the culprit is now fresh in his own conscious- 
ness, and legible in the faces of others, and while the 
judgment of the world loudly confirms the judgment of 
the church ; is likely to be more impressive to him, and 
to show him more effectually to what a depth he is fal- 
len, than a more gradual procedure. Such was the 
.effect upon the incestuous Corinthian. So long as he 
retained his place in the church, he repented not ; but 
being cast out, he was filled with sorrow ; and was re- 
ceived again into the church.* Besides, the act of ex- 
communication does not hinder the church from still 
using all hopeful means with the guilty member ; who, 

* 2 Cor. ii. (3 — 8. This passage may serve also, as a com- 
ment on the former, (1 Cor. v.) as to the manner in which the 
discipline was executed. It was the act of the church as a 
body : and not of its officers alone : ' J Sufficient to such a 
man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many ;" literal- 
ly, by the majority. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 83 

though separated from their communion, is not to be 
counted as an enemy, but admonished as a brother. 
There is no certainty that he will not be reclaimed, 
being cast out ; and there is none that he will be, if 
retained. 2. Though the reclaiming of the offender 
be a very important end of discipline, and ought to 
call into exercise all the wisdom, tenderness and faith- 
fulness, of the church, yet I am not certain that either 
reason or the Bible tells us that this is always the most 
important end. If we might suppose that the retaining 
him for a time, with all his infamy upon him, would be 
such a discredit to religion, or so dangerous to the 
members, as in all likelihood to occasion the ruin of ma- 
ny souls, it would seem to be duty to cast him out even to 
the probable ruin of his, — supposing this latter conse- 
to follow ; which, however, is not conceded. The 
question is, is his remaining in the church of greater im- 
portance than the church itself ; and must we sacrifice, 
or even jeopardize the church, in the uncertain hope of 
reclaiming him ? The church lives or dies with its 
character: shall his iniquity, then, be made its grave ? 
Grant that he may be a Christian, or that he certainly is 
one, notwithstanding his crime ; he may not be a fit 
person to be in the church at present. 3. If we have 
scripture for the measure, that must suffice ; and this I 
think we have, in the case of the church at Corinth. 

It is the opinion of some that our Savior's rule in 
Matthew is to be followed in all cases, public as well 
as private ; and this is the practice of some churches. 



84 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

But in the view of others this is a misapplication of the 
rule. For, 1% it does not appear to consist with the 
obvious sense of the passage. The offence there con- 
templated is a personal one : " If thy brother trespass 
against thee" If it be said that every offence may be 
assumed and treated as a personal one, inasmuch as it is 
a breach of a mutual and common covenant, then it is 
personal to all the members, and all ought to take the 
steps required : which is no where practiced, and would 
be absurd. 2. The rule, literally followed, does not 
appear to be adapted to satisfy the ends of discipline, 
in public cases. Take, for example, such as are men- 
tiond by Paul, "If any man that is called a brother be 
a fornicator, a railer, a drunkard, fyc" A member 
goes to such an one, and tells him his fault in private, 
following the rule of Christ. And suppose he confes- 
ses and repents. Are the objects of discipline gained ? 
Is the wounded honor of religion healed, in this private 
way ? Is there a salutary impression made upon the 
church ? Is the offender himself deterred, by such ea- 
sy terms, from a repetition of his sin ? Or if each 
member goes in turn, and is privately satisfied, are 
those objects then gained ? No, not at all. An open, 
scandalous iniquity, blown far and wide by fame, calls 
for something more thfin private auricular confession. 
" Them that sin, rebuke before all, that others also may 
fear." 

I am aware that it is said that the visiting brother 
may require a public confession, as the satisfaction he 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 85 

seeks ; and that so the public ends of discipline will be 
secured. But this is not the rule. It does not say you 
shall go to your brother in private and require a public 
confession ; but it says, if he hear you in private, let 
it be settled in private. Thou hast gained thy brother : 
it need not be told to the church. This is the rule as it 
stands. The construction proposed is, that it shall be 
told to the church if he do hear, and the same if he do not. 

The truth is, as it appears to me, our Savior refers to 
a strictly personal and private affair, such as is often 
occurring between man and man, and of which the world 
takes no notice. At the same time, this excellent rule 
is a standing law of wisdom, from which, doubtless, 
we are to draw lessons for almost every occasion of dis- 
cipline. It teaches us to regard the natural infirmity of 
human nature, by using, when we may, private endeav- 
ors, rather than the more mortifying and pride-alarm- 
ing ones of a public nature ; and to save religion itself 
from all needless exposure of the errors of its disciples. 
It teaches us to be ever kind, gentle, and forbearing ; 
and to use means for the recovery of such as are fall- 
en, as mild, as various, as protracted, and as hopeful, 
as the nature of the case will admit. 

The following is the doctrine of the Cambridge Plat- 
form on the subject. 

." But if the offence be more public at first, and of a 
more heinous and criminal nature, to wit, such as are 
condemned by the light of nature, then the church, 
without such gradual proceeding, is to cast out the of- 

8 



86 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

fender from their holy communion, for the further mor- 
tifying of his sin, and the healing of his soul in the 
day of the Lord Jesus." # With this agrees the Say- 
brook Platform. " Admonition is in case of private 
offences to be performed according to the rule in Matt, 
xviii. 15 — IT, and in case of public offences, openly be- 
fore the church, as the honor of the gospel, and the 
nature of the scandal, shall require."! The doctrine 
of the Westminster Assembly's, or Presbyterian Direc- 
tory for church censures is the same. 

FORSAKING THE COMMUNION. 

There is an offence not mentioned in the foregoing 
list, which must be noticed. It is when a member im- 
properly forsakes the communion of the church at the 
Lord's table. 

Why is the church to notice this ? 1 . Because the 
member, having covenanted to walk with the church in 
Christian fellowship, and in a due observance of ordi- 
nances, his forsaking its communion is a violation of 
that covenant. 2. There is something criminal in the 
motive, or state of mind, which induces the delinquen- 
cy. Commonly it is some disagreement with a fellow 
member ; or some offence taken at the church, for 
some of its proceedings ; or at the pastor. Or the ta- 
ble of the Lord is forsaken because, in the judgment 
of the absconding member, some are found there who 

* Chap xiv. 
t Heads of Agreement, Sect. iiL 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 87 

are unworthy ; or it is forsaken through sloth and indif- 
ference ; or in the conscious shame of general declen- 
sion and inconsistency. 

None of these motives are very Christian ones : and 
I fear there is sometimes a worse than any of these. I 
fear there are instances, I hope not numerous, when the 
absenting member is actuated by a motive of malevo- 
leme. He forsakes the communion as an expression of 
his anger, or hostility. He does it supposing that it 
will disquiet the member with whom he is at variance, 
and that it will cast blame upon him. Or, if the 
church, or the pastor is concerned, he thinks it will 
implicate and afflict them or him. He takes a course 
which shows an assumption of judgment in his own fa- 
vor, and an impeachment of the other party. 

The conduct is wrong, and the example bad, whatev- 
er be the motive. If you have a difficulty with a mem- 
ber, it is your duty, not to forsake the ordinances and 
fellowship of the church, but to take immediate meas- 
ures, according to the rule of Christ, for the healing of 
the difficulty. If your dissatisfaction is with the do- 
ings or judgment of the church in some matter, upon 
however clear or reasonable grounds your dissatisfac- 
tion rests, your course is wrong notwithstanding ; for 
it is subversive of all order, by setting up the will of 
an individual abovk the whole, or perhaps, of a mi- 
nority above the majority. You have a right to make 
your dissatisfaction known, if you choose, but this is 
sot the way to do it. As to the presence of unworthy 



88 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

communicants, if that is your difficulty, it is your duty, 
not to forsake the communion on their account, but 
either to endeavor to have them properly disciplined, 
as ' you promised to do in your covenant, or else to 
bear with them, remembering that there are " tares' y 
in all, even the best of churches ; and that wholly 
to eradicate them, even when they are visible, is of- 
ten a matter too difficult to be effected. But if all 
will not do, there is no remedy for you but to take 
an honorable dismission and remove — which you ought 
not lightly to do — to some other church. 

It does not avail to say you commune elsewhere. 
You covenanted to commune with this church. Nor 
does your communing elsewhere help your example. 
It rather proclaims what ought to be hid, nay, what 
ought not to be. To those who know the reason of 
your absence, it looks as though you were living in a 
quarrel with a brother, or with the church, or your 
minister ; or had excommunicated them all for unsound- 
ness, or disorder, having disowned and withdrawn 
yourself from them, and gone to another and better 
fraternity. To those who are ignorant of the reason, 
you appear as a simple neglecter of ordinances. They 
see your seat vacant in the house of God, and at the 
Lord's table, and knowing no other cause, naturally 
enough conclude that you are abiding indolently at 
home. In a word, the practice is too sinful in itself, 
and too evil in its tendencies, to be allowed. It ought 
to be, as it is, a subject of discipline . 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 89 

Miscellaneous and general remarks on the sub- 
ject of discipline. 

1. It is to be remembered that all cases of discipline, 
once taken up, are to be brought to one of two results ; 
the reformation of the offender, or else his excommu- 
nication. They must never be dropped short of one 
or the other of these issues. 

Hence it follows, that no matter can be a proper sub- 
ject for discipline at all, (though it may be, for private 
reproof) for which the offender could not be scriptur- 
ally excommunicated in case of his persisting in it. 

2. Excommunication, though it is essentially the 
same in its results in all cases, as cutting the delinquent 
off from the name and privileges of membership, and 
is never a trivial affair ; yet, in respect to the form of 
it, it is susceptible of different degrees of seventy. In 
the case of one who forsakes the communion of the 
church, but is not otherwise scandalous, the church 
may simply disown, or cease to know him as a member. 
" He having thereby cut himself off from that church's 
communion, the church may justly esteem and de- 
clare itself discharged of any further inspection over 
him. ,? * It may withdraw its watch and care. But 
in the case of notorious and obstinate offenders, the 
act of excommunication should be more formal and 
impressive. It should be something more than to pass 

* Saybrook Platform. 
3* 



90 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

and silently record a vote. " If the case be notoriously 
bad, pronounce sentence at the table of the Lord, with 
great solemnity."* Some declare it from the pulpit, in 
the most public manner. 

With this the scriptures appear to agree. From 
some they direct us to c withdraw, 7 ourselves ; in the 
case of others, the direction is, in language less mild, 
to ' cut off, 7 ' reject 7 and < put away from among our- 
selves, 7 the wicked person. In the case of the very 
heinous offender at Corinth, the church was required to 
assemble, and in the most solemn manner, in the name 
of the Lord Jesus Christ, < to deliver such an one unto 
Satan, [that is, as I understand it, to give him back 
again into that world which is Satan's kingdom, he being 
" the god of this world,"] for the destruction of the 
flesh, that the spirit might be saved in the day of the 
Lord Jesus.' 

3. It sometimes happens that an offending member is 
so uninformed as to imagine that he can withdraw from 
the church at will, and thus escape from its censure. 
The gospel knows no such rule. It supposes no separ- 
ation from the church, except by regular dismission to 
another church, or by excommunication. 

4. The censures of the church are to be administered 
by the pastor, in accordance with the vote of the breth- 
ren. 

♦Doddridge. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 91 

The pastor, though not competent to pronounce sen- 
tence in his own name, without the concurrence of the 
church, is not, however, to be considered as the mere 
chairman, or moderator, of the church, in the business 
of discipline, Far from this. It belongs to him, not 
only to see that the matter is properly laid before the 
meeting, and properly treated, but to set forth the law 
of Christ in regard to it ; and to declare his own judg- 
ment, if he think proper, before he call for the vote of 
the brethren : and the latter are in duty bound to ac- 
cord with him, unless they are, with good reason, satis- 
fied that he is in an error. It is the doctrine of the old 
Congregationalists that, the brethren have no more lib- 
erty to dissent from the judgment of their pa3tor in a 
matter of discipline, than they have to oppose his doc- 
trine delivered from the pulpit ; for the laws relating to 
discipline are themselves doctrines, or precepts, which 
he is bound to preach, and enforce, no less than other 
truths ; and the people are bound to receive them in 
the same manner ; that is, they are bound to receive 
them in either case, unless they can show that they are 
not agreeable to the word of God. He is as much set 
for the defence of the gospel in respect to the proper 
execution of its discipline, as in any other respect ; and 
the bible expects him to act, and to be regarded in 
this, no less than in other things, as a guide and leader to 
the church. Hence, if the brethren cannot offer se- 
rious reasons for dissenting from him, " they are bound 
(says Hooker) to join their judgment with hi3 in the 



92 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

completing of the sentence, without impertinent ques- 
tions, needless scruples, or wilful and disorderly gain- 
sayings." 

5. No member under censure of the church, or ex- 
communicated by it, can lawfully be received to the 
communion and fellowship of another church ; and any 
church which should violate this plain law of propriety 
and duty, whether of the same or of another denomi- 
nation, would be guilty of taking sides with the offend- 
er against the laws of Christ. If Christ himself has 
declared* that he will confirm in heaven what a church 
does in the faithful execution of his laws upon an offen- 
der, it is an act not far from rebellion, it is presumption 
not far from impious, in another church, to nullify what 
that church does, and to loose on earth what Christ 
binds in heaven, by taking the excluded member to its 
bosom. 

6. The discipline of the church should be attended 
to promptly. It is better on every account, to take an 
offence in the time of it, than after long delay. Neg- 
lected sores are the most difficult to heal. Is the good 
of the offender regarded ? The reproof, lagging far be- 
hind the offence, is likely to fail of effect. Is the 
honor of the church concerned ? Who delays, when 
his reputation is suffering, for months or years before 

*Matt. xviii. 18. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 93 

he attempts to relieve it? And is not the character of 
the church as valuable and as soon to be vindicated as 
that of a man ? 

It must be faithful. Every reason which demands 
the discipline at all demands that it be thorough. "Great 
care is to be taken that we be not overstrict or rigorous, 
yet, the winning and healing of the offender's soul being 
the end of these endeavors, we must not daub with un- 
tempered mortar, nor heal the wounds of our brethren 
slightly. "* I have before remarked that it should be 
carried through, when once taken up. To commence 
a process of dealing with an offender, and then to drop 
or recede from it without an issue, leaving his sin upon 
him unrepented of, and the church unsatisfied, and the 
honor of religion unrelieved, is not only a sin against 
him, being an omission of those means which Christ has 
appointed for his recovery, but is disobedience to Christ, 
proclaims the weakness or unfaithfulness of the church, 
and is a bad precedent which is likely both to multiply 
occasions for discipline, and to embarrass the treatment 
of them. 

It must be uniform. Every offence, and not merely 
some offences, should receive its due attention. That is 
a badly administered government which is unequal, pur- 
suing some offenders and neglecting others ; or which is 
fitful and capricious, now negligent and now strenuous. 

It must be impartial. No pecuniary or family influ- 

* Camb. Platform. 



94 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

ence, no worldly consideration whatever, may cover the 
man of consequence, while a humbler member would 
experience no such forbearance. Or, in another view 
of the subject, let not the soul of the rich or honorable 
man be less regarded than the soul of the poor or ob- 
scure ; but let the same means be used for his recovery 
as for the other's. 

It must be independent. It is no uncommon thing 
for the world without, and especially for relations and 
friends, to set in and espouse the cause of the censured. 
But the church of Christ must know no rule of action 
but his will. That done, it is a small thing to be judg- 
ed of man's judgment. 

6. All the members should take part in the discharge 
of this important duty. They should all sustain the dis- 
cipline of the church by their presence and vote ; not on- 
ly because this is the equal and common duty of all, 
but because the efficacy of discipline depends, in a great 
degree, upon the concurrence of the whole society in it, 
instead of its resulting from the action of only a few. 

And here is a too frequent cause of complaint. It is 
the habit of too many members to withdraw themselves 
from this business : sometimes through negligence, but 
oftener, probably, from reluctance. 

If the duty be unpleasant, if it be a painful and re- 
sponsible one, for that very reason it is wrong for you 
to desert it, and leave it to be done by your brethren ; 
to whom it becomes more embarrassing in consequence 
of such desertion. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 95 

It is sometimes said, as an apology, " The member 
is my relative, or my neighbor, and I do not like to of- 
fend him." How then do you construe the business of 
discipline ? Offend him ? Do you view it in the light of 
an aggression upon your neighbor? Do you mean 
that the discipline appointed by Christ is an unkindly 
and unneighborly thing ; an aggressive and persecuting 
movement, in which you cannot participate ? Is it an 
offence against your brother to convert him from the er- 
ror of his way, and save his soul from death ? Consider 
for what it is that discipline is instituted ; and if your 
brother have fallen into ;i the condemnation of the dev- 
il,'- or into any of those " foolish and hurtful lusts which 
drown men in destruction and perdition, and the means, 
the best means for his recovery are before you, consid- 
er what is the part of kindness towards him ; — whether 
neglect of the mearis, or the faithful application of them. 
Do not desert the discipline nor abandon him ; but 
do what you can to sustain the one and save the other. 

If it be wrong to desert the discipline of the church, 
it is still worse to be present only to embarrass it by 
needless scruples, or captious objections. If you think 
it your duty to dissent from the majority of your breth- 
ren, you have a right, certainly, to do so. But let your 
reasons and motives be well considered. If from a vain 
affectation of showing your superior wisdom, or liberal- 
ity, you should appear as the abettor of the offender's in- 
iquity, and confirm him in it, against the endeav- 
ors of your brethren, you must be answerable to God for 
the consequences. 



96 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

7. Iti is of the greatest importance always to keep in 
view the ends of discipline, and especially that end 
which, in all ordinary cases, is the first to be aimed at ; 
namely, the recovery of the delinquent. That gained, 
all is gained. It is at once the most pleasing result in 
itself, and the most honorable to the church and the 
gospel. It is true that by the excommunication of the 
offender, the church has cleared itself of the scandal ; 
but then a member is lost to it, and perhaps to himself. 
But if he be brought to true repentence, and to newness 
of life ; if, like Peter, he weep bitterly ; not only is the 
church relieved from the scandal, but it is the honored 
instrument of his recovery. While an unfeeling world 
would only have reproached, discarded, and hardened 
him, he becomes by means of the church, a man forgiven 
of God, and worthy of the renewed confidence and es- 
teem of men. What more honored instrumentality, what 
more gratifying result, than this ? " Perhaps there is 
scarcely a more edifying sight than a lapsed christian, 
ingenuously confessing his sin, acknowledging the jus- 
tice of his punishment, imploring the forgiveness of God 
and a reunion to the family of Christ, and recommenc- 
ing the christian life with new amiableness and beauty. 
Nothing in this w r orld more resembles the joy of angels 
over a repenting sinner, than the emotions excited in 
the minds of good men by this solemn transaction. "* 

8. Too great heed cannot be taken as to what spirit 

* Dr. Dwight. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 97 

we are of, in this matter. If the object be to gain our 
brother, this is not to be effected by a process of bar- 
ren forms, much less by unkindness and reproach. We 
must feel and manifest a real concern for his good. We 
must make him see, if possible, that though an erring 
brother, he is still to us as a brother ; and that we do 
not forget that it is a brother's feelings, a brother's char- 
acter, and a brother's immortal welfare, that we are 
handling ; and, if he compel us to go so far as to divide 
him from our company, that it is with unfeigned sorrow 
we proceed to that extremity, in the discharge of a 
duty, to him, as well as to Christ, which we dare not 
disregard. 

9. The faithful discharge of this duty is the truest 
test of a Christian church. The apostle writing to the 
Corinthians concerning the disorderly member whom he 
had required them to excommunicate, tells them he did 
it to prove the universality and the reality of their 
obedience to Christ: " For to this end also did I write, 
that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be 
obedient in all things." Whatever a church may be in 
respect to its creeds or its forms ; whatever diligence it 
may use in gathering numbers to a visible profession 
within its pale ; however costly the temple it erects and 
dedicates to God, or thronged the attendance there ; if 
it be wanting in the article of discipline, it lacks an es- 
sential proof of its being a genuine church of Christ. 
Ye are my friends, saith Christ, if ye do whatsoever I 

9 



y& THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

command you ; and on what subject are his commands 
more explicit than on this ? It was their remissness in 
this particular, that called forth his rebukes of several of 
the seven churches of Asia ; and the faithful perfor- 
mance of it by others of them, that received his com- 
mendation. 

Finally ; I know of no language too strong to express 
the importance of this subject, or to impress it suitably 
on the mind. The discipline of the church, essential to 
its purity, is essential to every object for which it exists. 
Its increasing, and, eventually, entire corruption, will be 
the consequence of its neglecting this duty. Sin not 
purged out, is by an apostle compared to leaven, which 
leavens the mass. No such church can truly prosper ; 
or can answer the ends for which churches are institu- 
ted. Forfeiting the favor of Christ, through neglect of 
his laws; losing the respect of the world, and its self-re- 
spect, through the tolerated scandals that spring up in 
it and blemish its character : it will go down hill decay- 
ing and losing its vitality, till little shall remain to it but 
its name and form, to distinguish it from the world. It 
is no longer a city set on a hill. Its comeliness, and 
beauty, and influence, are gone. It may still bear the 
* banners,' but no longer has the c terribleness,' of an 
army of Christ. Or, if it should appear outwardly to 
flourish, as some churches do, in whose assemblies the 
gay and the worldly find it convenient to worship, some 
for fashion and some for form's sake, and where church 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 99 

ambition builds more diligently than godly sincerity and 
faithfulness to souls, — if it should go on growing in 
numbers, and accumulating materials of some sort, its 
prosperity is deceptive. " Thou sayest, I am rich, and 
increased with goods, and have need of nothing ; and 
knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and 
poor, and blind, and naked.' 5 Whatever it may have of 
the form, it will have little of the reality, of a spiritual 
society. It will want the simplicity, it will want the fer- 
vor, the distinctness from the world, the religious ener- 
gy and influence, and all that is proper to ' a peculiar 
people, purified by Christ. It is a field where tares 
grow by permission. They may increase its greenness 
and luxuriance for the time, and flatter the undiscern- 
ing eye of the cultivator, or beholder ; but what will the 
harvest be " in the end of the world ?" 

If such be the importance of discipline, let it be faith- 
fully attended to ; and let not fear or policy prevent. 
The case may arise, it often does, when to go forward 
in a thorough discharge of this duty may seem to be 
portentous of evil. It may threaten to harrass the 
church with the resentments of disorderly but powerful 
members ; to overwhelm it with clamors ; to diminish its 
strength ; or to destroy its existence. But faith is to be 
exercised here as in every thing else pertaining to the 
kingdom of Christ. The remembrance that it is Christ's 
laws that we are called to administer, and Christ's church 
that is concerned in the consequences ; that it is his 



100 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

wisdom that appoints, his authority that commands, his 
power that sustains ; and that, whatever the issue may 
be, it can never be worse than his displeasure ; should 
be our sufficient warrant to proceed. There can be no 
ground to fear that he will not vindicate his own laws, 
and bear out his church in a faithful administration of 
them. Nor let it be imagined that these laws can be 
dispensed with, without incurring his frown, and re- 
vealing, sooner or later, the folly of forsaking the wis- 
dom of Christ, for the timid dictates of human pru- 
dence. 

Very many facts might be given corroborative of these 
remarks : showing in some cases the decay and corrup- 
tion of churches through neglect of discipline ; and in 
others, their great prosperity in consequence of its main- 
tenance. I am acquainted with a church, once large and 
flourishing, " one of the green spots of Connecticut," 
as I have heard it called, where, in consequence of there 
being no discipline, I was told, theie had been no con- 
versions, or very few, for some twenty years or more ! 
by which time both the church and the place were as full 
of disorders as can well be imagined. On the other 
hand, I could mention churches which have been bles- 
sed with successive revivals and large accessions in con- 
nection with this duty. And this is what ought to be 
expected. For when is a church more prepared to be 
blessed in this manner, than it is in that peculiar frame 
which is suited to the work of discipline ? — humble, 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 101 

prayerful, forgiving, and sensible of dependence on God. 
Or when is its separateness from the world more im- 
pressively evident to " them that are without," than 
when it divides the wicked from its company ? 

A venerable minister related the following. He was 
the pastor of a small country parish in Connecticut. 
Six of the male members, persons of influence, became 
guilty of heinous offences at one time. He began, 
with a heavy heart, to take such steps as the case re- 
quired ; when some of the brethren besought him to de- 
sist, at least for a time, thinking, in consideration of the 
standing of these persons in society, and that of their 
families, that to subject them to discipline would prove 
the destruction of the church. To this timid policy he 
yielded ; and " from that time," his language was, " the 
church visibly went down, down, down, till it scarcely 
existed, and seemed threatened with a total extinction. 
I perceived my error and awoke to my duty ; and go- 
ing to such of the members as I could most confide in, 
whom I found by this time to be of my mind, I said to 
them, ' We must go forward and execute the laws of 
Christ's house.' We did so ; and in one day cut off 
the six. 

" I had appointed a meeting that evening at a private 
house, by desire of a poor sick woman whom illness had 
long detained from our public assemblies. I went ex- 
pecting to meet a few neighbors only, when, to my 
great surprise, the house was filled. The Spirit of God 

was there, — and for those six, the Lord gave us sixty ! 

9* 



102 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

that number being added to the church as the fruit of 
the revival which then commenced." 

TREATMENT OF EXCOMMUNICATED PERSONS. 

We have a twofold duty to perform towards excom- 
municated persons. One respects the deportment we 
are to observe towards them in regard to society and in- 
tercourse ; the other respects the endeavors we are to 
use with a view to their repentance and return to the 
Christian family. We are to have no company with the 
excommunicate, that he may be ashamed ; yet we are 
not to count him as an enemy but admonish him as a 
brother. 2 Thess. iii. 14, 15. 

At lCor. v. 11, the direction is not to keep com- 
pany with such as are there described, " no not to eat;" 
which some have interpreted the not making them our 
guests, or being theirs ; but which is more commonly 
supposed to mean, that we must not voluntarily sit 
down with them even to an ordinary meal. I say, with 
such as are there described, viz. " fornicators, covetous, 
idolaters, railers, drunkards," and other grossly licen- 
tious and vicious persons. Some have understood the 
injunction, " no not to eat" to apply to all excommuni- 
cated persons ; but I think with doubtful propriety ; 
for this is reducing all offences, the most heinous and the 
least so, to a common level, and subjecting them all to a 
common measure of abhorrence. Besides, the words 
are applied by the apostle to a specific class of offences ; 
" with such an one, no not to eat." 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 103 

From a view of the several passages which speak of 
this subject, it appears to me this general inference is 
to be drawn ; namely, that we are to treat each excom- 
municated person according to the character of his 
offence. From a member who walks disorderly, we 
are to withdraw ourselves. He is disowned of the 
Christian family, and while he remains so, we are to have 
no further communion or fellowship with him. He is 
not to be recognised as a professor of religion, or as a 
Christian. This is a general rule. Others are more 
specific. Them that cause divisions we are to mark 
and avoid. We are to treat them as dangerous per- 
sons ; from whom we are to keep at a distance, as the 
most suitable way of expressing our disapprobation of 
them, and, at the same time, the most effectual way of 
preventing their mischiefs: for factious leaders are 
soon out of countenance when they can get none to 
adhere or listen to them. The same remark may apply 
to errorists in doctrine. " Let them alone." A mem- 
ber persisting in an injury done to another to that de- 
gree that he contemns or resists the united endeavors 
of the church, till they are forced to expel him, is to 
discover, in their subsequent deportment towards him, 
that his moral level, in their view, is no higher than that 
of " a heathen man and a publican ;" while the inde- 
cent, licentious, and abominable, are to be avoided to 
the utmost degree, as to our having any society with 
them, even so much as to eat. They are to be viewed 
and treated as men whose deeds are shameful, and them- 
selves abhorrent to the Christian name. 



104 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

In every case there is a greater reserve required to be 
observed towards excommunicated persons, than to- 
wards the same grade of sinners who are not of the 
church. See 1 Cor. v. 9 — 11, where a distinction is 
made between sinners of the world and excommunica- 
ted professors. 

As a general remark it may be observed, that what- 
ever our deportment is to be in particular cases, it should 
in all cases be such, towards persons under censure of 
the church, whether before excommunication, or after, 
as to sustain and consist with the object of the cen- 
sure, and not to defeat it. It were a vain thing to im- 
pose a censure by our vote, and then nullify it by our 
actions. It is our behavior towards the subject, and 
not the formality of a vote merely, that must give effi- 
cacy to the discipline. 

But while we may manifest no complacency in the ex- 
communicate as a Christian, we are not to forget his 
soft], or to cast him off utterly from our Christian regards, 
but are to use all suitable means to bring him back 
to repentance and to Christ. It was for this very end, 
among others, we should remember, that he was cut off 
from the church, — that by his loss of its privileges and 
its Christian esteem, he might be made more sensible of 
his fallen condition. Perhaps we should show even 
more concern for him (though hope be less,) than if he 
had never sustained to us the endeared but forfeited 
relation of a brother in Christ. 

Exceptions are of course to be made in favor of the 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 105 

common duties and offices of humanity ; such as reliev- 
ing the sick and distressed ; and in favor of the domes- 
tic and other particular relations. " Excommunication 
doth not release children from the obligation of duty to 
their parents, nor parents from parental affection and 
care towards their children. Nor are husbands and 
wives released from the duties proper to their relation. 
And so of all other less relations, whether natural, do- 
mestic, or civil."* 

Whenever the excommunicate becomes a penitent, 
and satisfies the church of the same by a due confes- 
sion of his sin, he is then to be restored. 2 Cor. ii. 8. 

* Pres. Edwards. 



CHAPTER V. 
CHURCH MEETINGS AND CHURCH BUSINESS. 

Every church has its meetings for business. It were 
much to be wished that such meetings were more fre- 
quent than they are, in most of our churches. The de- 
sirableness of them must be obvious to every one who 
reflects on the variety and importance of the interests 
over which every church is called to exercise its wisdom 
and care. Besides attention to discipline, how many 
occasions are there for consultation on the state of reli- 
gion and the means of reviving it ; for devising ways 
and means for the support of the gospel at home, and 
its extension abroad ; for attending to the various con- 
cerns of the Sabbath school; the choir; the relief of 
the poor, and other important matters ? 

There is a culpable neglect on the part of some in 
regard to attending these meetings. Some are always 
at their post ; but the occasion must be a very extraordi- 
nary one indeed which can assemble the whole body. 
"More time, (says Dr. Beecher,) should be devoted by 
the members of local churches to consultation and so- 
cial prayer. No secular interest so diversified, extend- 
ed, important, and difficult, depending on the resources 
and steady co-operation of so many individuals, of dif- 
ferent age and capacity, could be successfully protected, 
and extended, without reiterated consultation. And 



108 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

yet how difficult, how almost impossible it is, to convene 
punctually the members of almost any church, to attend 
to the public concerns of Christ's kingdom, and to im- 
plore the blessing of God upon their labors." 

My first topic, then, shall be th^ duty of attending, 
punctually and faithfully, the business meetings of the 
church. I urge the duty upon every member, upon the 
ground that whatever is done, or to be done, at these 
meetings, is the equal concern of all ; being made so by 
their mutual equality as brethren, by their mutual and 
common covenant, and by their common relation and 
obligation to Christ and his cause. With the reflecting 
and upright member this is sufficient. It does not ap- 
pear to be so with all. 

I would inquire of the delinquent member, what it is 
that prevails with him to be absent from these meetings. 
Do you say there will be a sufficient number to attend 
to the business without you ? This is the very language 
of selfishness and indifference, which I am sorry to hear 
from a Christian. The business can be done perhaps, 
but it cannot be done as well, as if you and all were 
there who should be. For where responsibility is to be 
borne, or judgment to be exercised, " two are better 
than one," and " in the multitude of counsellors there 
is safety. 5 ' It cannot be done as well, and if it could 
be, there is no propriety in your leaving it to be done 
by others, whose obligation is no greater than yours. 
Were all to do as you do, who might with equal propri- 
ety, the meeting fails entirely, the business is deserted, 
and the cause suffers. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 109 

But you are weary, perhaps; or your business is 
pressing ; or you live at a distance ; or the sky is dark. 

In extreme cases these are sufficient excuses ; but 
they are by far too often made. Remember that others 
are subject to all these calls and inconveniences no less 
than you. And if you plead weariness and distance, 
think of the wearisome journeys and toilsome hours 
which Christ endured for the church's sake ; whom 
neither a burning sun, nor " cold mountains and the 
midnight air," detained from his proper work.* 

Some may excuse themselves from a feeling that 
they are too obscure or uninformed to render any ser- 
vice by their attendance ; and the young may imagine 
that the affairs in question belong to the more experien- 
ced wisdom of the pastor and older brethren. 

To the former I would say, your modesty is amiable, 
but your practice is wrong. Your presence, however 
humble, will be gratifying to those who attend, and 
will be worth much as an example. A pious example 
is often the more conspicuous from the very lowliness 
of the condition of him that exhibits it. The deeper 
the valley, and the denser the shade, the more appar- 
ent the light which is carried. Who does not read the 
story of the Dairyman's Daughter, or of Poor Joseph, 
or of that humble family of Bethany which Jesus lov- 
ed, with a sympathy deeper and more admiring than 
he would be affected with in contemplating equal piety 

*John 4, 6. Luke 6, YZ. 
10 



110 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

in higher conditions ? Let your example be one of 
consistency and constancy, and it will not be lost, how- 
ever humble your condition, or limited your knowledge. 
But more than this, your silent presence and vote will 
give at least some additional weight and efficacy to the 
measures of the meeting, and peradventure your wis- 
dom may enlighten them. In the words of another, 
" you ought to be there, for, though you be weak, and 
ignorant, and humble, it is possible that you alone may 
carry thither the information which will be needed to 
solve some difficulty ; it is possible that to your mind 
may be suggested the thought that shall prevent or set- 
tle some rising dissention.' ?# 

To the young members I would say, if the wisdom 
and experience of the older be superior to yours, for 
that very reason your ought to be there. There is the 
place for you to be gathering lessons from their expe- 
rience, which will qualify you to fill their places when 
they are gone, and to become, in turn, pillars in the 
church, as they have been. 

A few words now on the order to be observed in 
these meetings. They should always be opened, if not 
concluded with prayer. In the absence of the pastor, 
one of the deacons presides. Every member has an 
equal right to express his views ; and it is desirable 
that as much freedom should be used as is consistent 
with a becoming modesty and despatch of business. 
Yet it is a good rule, " Let every man be swift to hear, 

fBacon's Church Manual. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. Ill 

slow to speak ;" and, " Likewise ye younger submit 
yourselves unto the elder: yea, all of you be subject 
one to another, and be clothed with humility." Talka- 
tive persons are an affliction in any assembly. 

The meeting should be commenced punctually and 
carried forward with promptness. Late beginning and 
slow r moving looks like indifference ; or as if we had 
come together not knowing wherefore ; or were at a 
loss to proceed. Let us act like men that understand 
themselves. If the business of religion require serious- 
ness and calmness in those who deliberate, it is not 
honored by feebleness and prolixity. Let us remem- 
ber the value of time ; and that where so many are 
met, it may have been with special inconvenience to 
some. While one is consuming the time with tedious- 
ness or digression, the thoughts of another may be ur- 
ged homewards by some pressing call of domestic or 
other duty ; or while one is but a step from his home, 
and is quite at his ease, another has a long road to 
travel. 

The meeting should be conducted throughout with 
seriousness and dignity, as in Christ's presence and 
about his business. For where two or three are gath- 
ered together in his name, whether for business or de- 
votion, there is he in the midst of them. All such 
things as discursive or desultory talking, whispering, 
talking apart in groups, altercation between members, 
or addressing each other instead of the chair, speaking 
without rising, and indifferent and listless postures 
should be avoided, 



112 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

Especially should we observe such serious deport- 
ment when we are met to attend to discipline. It is 
the seriousness and dignity of the meeting, joined with 
meekness and benignity, as acting in Christ's presence 
and by his authority, that makes its censures impres- 
sive to the subject of them, and commands the respect 
of all. 

ARTICLES OF PRACTICE TEMPERANCE. 

It is common for a church to draw up a few general 
rules as a directory of its practice. The time is not 
distant, I trust, when, in every church which shall be 
worthy of the name, these articles shall embrace the 
doctrine of total abstinence from ardent spirits. And 
in anticipation of that event I introduce the subject 
here. 

It is objected by some, that to require our members 
to subscribe to the temperance principle as a condition 
of membership, would be the imposition of a new term 
of communion not authorized by Christ. 

But this is to be determined by a previous question ; 
Whether the selling and using of ardent spirit, as a 
drink, be a moral, or an immoral practice ? If it be im- 
moral, then the excluding it from the church is no 
human imposition, or new condition of membership ; 
for Christ himself allows of no immoral practice in his 
church. 

Now it has become the declared opinion of a multi- 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER, 113 

tude of sober and intelligent people that the practice is 
immoral. Not only have many large and most respect- 
able temperance conventions harmoniously passed re- 
solves, that the making, vending, and using ardent spir- 
it as a drink, are morally wrong, but numerous eccle- 
siastical bodies have done the same ; and thousands of 
individuals, on both sides of the water, have expressed 
the same conviction. And I am sure that no one can 
dissent from it, who looks at the evils which ardent spir- 
it produces, and is not ignorant of the precepts and 
spirit of his bible. The whole bible is against the ar- 
ticle in question. A book which inculcates nothing but 
purity and benevolence cannot approve of that which 
produces nothing but evil — which fills the world with 
drunkenness, misery, and crime. Let him that deals in 
intoxicating drinks reconcile his practice with that 'love 
which worketh no ill to his neighbor, and is therefore 
the fulfilling of the law ;' and let him that uses it do 
the same: for if it be right to use the article, it must be 
right to make and sell. 

I conclude, therefore, that the exclusion of ardent 
spirit, as a drink, from our churches must be agreeable 
to the mind of Christ. But as to the mode of doing 
this, it would not be proper to require the candidate for 
admission first to go and join a temperance society ; for 
this would be making the church of Christ to depend 
on another and distinct institution. The temperance 
principle should be included in the practice of the 

10* 



114 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

church itself; so that any one becoming a member of 
the church should be ipsofmto a temperance man. Ii* 
constituting a temperance church, perhaps some such 
form as the following would be suitable. 

c Believing that ardent spirit [or intoxicating liquors, 
if we ought to include all that intoxicates,] is not only 
unnecessary, but hurtful, as a drink : and in view of the 
numerous and great evils which result from the use of 
it, to the bodies and souls of men ; and more especial- 
ly, in view of the mischiefs which have hence arisen to 
the church of Christ, it being a most fruitful source of 
scandal and discipline ; therefore this church declare 
and agree as follows : 

1. That it is the solemn conviction of this church 
that the practice of using and trafficking in ardent spir- 
it as a drink is morally wrong, and that it is the duty of 
all such as profess to be Christ's disciples to abstain 
from and discourage such use and traffic. 

2. That we will not use ardent spirit ourselves, nor 
furnish it for others, except conscientiously as a medi- 
cine, in case of bodily ailment ; nor will we traffic in it, 
as an article of drink. 

3. That it shall hereafter be a standing rule of this 
church, that no person shall be received into it, either 
on profession or by letter, who shall refuse assent to 
these articles.' 

With regard to those who are already members of 
the church, and refuse to act on the temperance prin- 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 115 

ciple, all that we can do is, to endeavor by all suitable 
means to win them over to so good a cause, and to so 
plain a duty, and then to leave them to their own con- 
victions, and great account. 

STANDING COMMITTEES. 

Many of our churches have standing committees. 
Such committees, charged with a general oversight of 
the ordinary interests of the church, may be very ser- 
viceable. But in assigning them their duties, care 
should be taken not to violate the essential principles of 
the Congregational system. I have before me instances 
of such committees invested with powers almost identical 
with those of a Presbyterian session. To commit the 
watch and discipline of the church to a permanent com- 
mittee, in such a manner as to discharge the church as 
a body from those duties, is not Congregationalism. 



CHAPTER VI. 
RELATIONS OF PASTOR AND PEOPLE 

The Congregational churches, like the primitive, 
and most of the modern churches, have their settled 
Pastors. A ministry wholly itinerant, or often chang- 
ing, though it may render much excellent service, is not 
adequate to all the wants of churches and societies, nor 
competent to all the good which the Christian ministry 
is designed to effect. The officers of a church are es- 
sential to its organization. It is incomplete without 
them, and especially without its pastor. 

The pastoral office is, by divine appointment, a per- 
manent office in every church ; its duties are perma- 
nent ; the necessities of the church and community are 
such as at all times to demand its exercise. Hence the 
New Testament churches had their permanent pastors. 
*• They ordained them elders in every city." And hence 
the explicit and careful instructions which are given 
respecting the qualifications and duties which pertain 
to this office, and the duty of the people in regard to it. 

A church, or society, that has no settled minister, has 
no pastor. It may have a series of occasional supplies, 
or a succession of evangelists, missionaries, or traveling 
preachers, but the man that fills its pulpitis not its pas- 
tor. He has not the relations, and consequently has 
not the sympathies, nor the responsibilities and cares, 
which are peculiar to that office. 



118 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 



The benefits of a settled ministry are very great. 
The relation is an endearing one both to minister and 
people. He dwells among them as a shepherd among 
his flock, whose voice they know 7 . He is not a strang- 
er held loosely to them by a temporary connection ; but 
has his home and his children's home among them. 

He is acquainted with every family. He knows their 
history, their character, their circumstances, their joys, 
griefs, sicknesses. He is with them at their marriages, 
and at their funerals ; and on many occasions of anxi- 
ety, of delicacy, of embarrassment and distress, such 
as the stranger intermeddleth not w T ith, is their tried 
friend, counsellor, and comforter. 

He is the baptizer of their children ; and with a con- 
cern inferior only to that of the parents, and often sur- 
passing that ; he watches over their advancing childhood 
and youth. 

He is the judicious friend of education, and of all 
which pertains to the good of the community ; in which 
he has the threefold interest of a pastor, a citizen, and a 
father. He is identified with his people in all that con- 
cerns their welfare. 

His home is the well known place of resort and en- 
tertainment for clergymen and other religious strangers 
who visit the place. 

Being a permanent resident, he is more concerned 
for the results of his ministry than he naturally would 
be, were his stay but temporary. He cannot, like those 
who stay is short, light fires, in his boldness or impru- 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 1J9 

dence, and then gooff by the light of them, and leave 
them to burn, or be quenched by others. 

The settled pastor feels a growing interest in his 
flock. The longer he is with them, the more he labors 
and cares for them, the oftener he is called to sympa- 
thize with them, weeping with those that weep, and re- 
joicing with those that rejoice, and the more he experi- 
ences of their kindness towards himself, the deeper 
does his affectionate concern for them naturally be- 
come. I know of no affection more sacred and un- 
quenchable than that of a long settled pastor for his 
people. 

The settled pastor is acquainted with the spiritual 
condition of his people, as a stranger cannot be, and 
knows what is needful for them, from time to time, in 
the way of instruction, reproof, or consolation. Di- 
rected by this knowledge, and compelled too by the 
permanency of his ministry and his unchanging audi- 
tory, he of necessity takes a wider compass in his 
preaching, and his hearers receive, in the end, a greater 
variety and amount of instruction than would, or per- 
haps could be given, by a succession of transient preach- 
ers. The itinerant preacher, with an audience always 
new, needs but a few discourses, in memory or manu- 
script, to answer his calls. He is not obliged to be very 
diversified in his ministrations, nor is it probable that he 
will be. He naturally selects a few topics, and those 
commonly which aie the most exciting, and the most 
obvious and familiar ; and with these begins and fini- 



120 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

ishes his temporary work. Another follows, and then 
another, much in the same strain. The consequence 
is that the people, though abundantly and fervidly ex- 
horted upon a few topics, acquire but a defective knowl- 
edge of truth. 

It is not so with the settled pastor. It depends on 
him, and he feels it to be his duty, as one set apart for 
the instruction of a particular people, to acquaint them 
with the whole counsel of God. They look to him 
chiefly for the bread of life, and to him the injunction 
comes emphatically and solemnly, " Take heed there- 
fore unto yourselves and to all the flock, over which the 
Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church 
of God." The church cannot be fed as the pastor is 
required to feed them, they cannot be instructed gener- 
ally and fully in the knowledge of religious truth and 
duty, in a few random discourses, however elaborately 
prepared, or fervidly delivered. 

While I honor the zeal, and I trust, duly appreciate 
the useful labors of evangelists and other itinerant 
preachers, I am clearly satisfied that an itinerant minis- 
try can never be substituted for a settled one without 
great detriment to the interests of religion. And this I 
think is a growing conviction in the land. It is a con- 
viction not diminished, but rather increased, by our re- 
cent increased experience of the results and tendencies 
of itinerant labors. 

It was formerly the practice of our churches to settle 
their ministers for life. The same is the practice now 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 121 

to some extent; but the times are given to change. 
The practice of dismissing a minister " for every cause" 
is one of the sins of the times. It is an evil to all 
concerned, but more to the people than to the minister. 
Its tendency is to unsettle the habits, and, in various 
ways, to diminish the prosperity of our churches. Ev- 
ery instance of dismissing one minister and settling 
another causes some to be dissatisfied, if it do not produce 
division and defection. It has an effect, too, to multi- 
ply itching ears, and to induce a habit of curious and 
speculative hearing, rather than of sober profiting by 
the word. It will be found by observation that those 
societies are most prosperous which are least addicted 
to a frequent change of ministers. 

It belongs to the present chapter to speak of the 
powers and prerogatives of the minister. 

His duties towards the people as their spiritual in- 
structor and pastor are too well known to need to be 
specified. Almost equally obvious are the duties of the 
people towards him. 

He is entitled to their esteem and confidence ; to a 
remembrance in their prayers ; to an adequate subsist- 
ence ;* to a respectful attendance on his ministrations : 
for where Christ has made it his duty to preach, he has 
made it theirs to hear. In a word, as it is for him to la- 
bor and watch for them, so it is for them to acknowledge, 

*1 Thess. v. 12, 13, 25. ] Tim. v. 18. 
11 



122 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

sustain, and co-operate with him, in every way in which 
they may give efficacy and comfort to his ministry. 

j 

Though it is not the province of the pastor to govern 
the church as a magistrate, or legislator, yet he is not 
destitute of authority. He has the authority of a spir- 
ual guide and overseer. He has authority as Christ's 
ambassador, and commissioned expounder of his will ; 
and as such the people are bound to respect him. I 
cannot express myself more happily on this subject than 
in the following language of Mr. James. 

" Still, however, there is authority belonging to the 
pastor ; for office without authority is a solecism. " Re- 
member them that have the rule over you" said St. 
Paul to the Hebrews, xiii. 7. " Obey them that have 
the rule over you. Submit yourselves, for they watch 
for your souls," 17. " They addicted themselves to the 
ministry ; submit yourselves to such." 1 Cor. xvi. 15 
16. These are inspired injunctions, and they enjoin 
obedience and submission on Christian churches to 
their pastors. The authority of pastors, however, is 
not legislative or coercive, but simply declarative and 
executive. To define with precision its limits, is as 
difficult as to mark the boundaries of the several col- 
ours of the rainbow, or of light and darkness at the 
hour of twilight in the hemisphere. The minister is to 
command, yet he is not to " lord it over God's heritage." 
This is not the only case, in which the precise limits of 
authority are left undefined by the scriptures. The du- 






THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 1^3 

ties of the conjugal union are laid down in the same 
general manner : the husband is to rule and the wife to 
obey ; yet it is difficult to declare where in this instance 
authority and submission end. In each of these in- 
stances the union is founded on mutual love, confidence 
and esteem, and it might therefore be rationally suppo- 
sed, that under these circumstances general terms are 
sufficient, and that there would arise no contests for 
power. If the people see that all the authority of their 
pastor is employed for their benefit, they will not be in- 
clined to ascertain by measurement whether he has 
passed its limits. The very circumstance of his pre- 
rogative being thus undefined, should on the one hand 
make him afraid of extending it, and on the other, 
render his church cautious of diminishing it."* 

I will only add, that whatever the pastor's authority 
may be, in kind or measure, according to the scriptures, 
it is doubtless graduated to the ends which the ministry 
is designed to accomplish. It is such authority as is 
requisite to the highest and best effect of the office ; 
and either to exalt it beyond its proper measure, or to 
depress it below, is inauspicious, perhaps alike inauspi- 
cious, to the welfare of the churches. If in the one 
case there is a usurpation of the rights of the brother- 
hood, there is, in the other, that want of respect for the 
office which nullifies its influence. '-Those persons 
who are anxious to strip their pastors of all just eleva- 

*Church Meml e's Guide. 



124 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

tion, (says the author quoted above,) cannot expect to 
derive much edification from their labors ; for instruc- 
tion and advice, like substances falling to the earth, im- 
press the mind with a momentum proportioned to the 
height from which they descend." 

A minister's imputation is to be regarded not less 
than his authority. His character is the property of 
his people ; and is of the greatest importance to them. 
To assail and injure that, is to assail and injure them. 
If they themselves assail it injuriously, they are digging 
through the walls of their own dwelling. 

A minister beloved and respected by his people is 
one of their strongest bonds of union. United in him, 
they are united in one another. It is observable that 
when enemies w r ould assail a church, or society, the 
minister is commonly their most prominent object of at- 
tack. To undermine his influence, to get the people 
dissatisfied or divided with regard to him, is an impor- 
tant step towards the accomplishment of their designs. 
In like manner, when sectarians inyade, their policy is to 
cry down your minister and extol their own. 

A people wrong their minister by expecting too 
much from him. They should remember that to preach 
is his great duty ; and that it were better that he should 
fail in any other particular than in this. All other du- 
ties, however important, are less important than this. It 
were well if he could visit all the time, and study and 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER, x 125 

preach abundantly besides. But this cannot be. We 
have this treasure in earthen vessels. He cannot go be- 
yond the capabilities of flesh and blood. I do by no 
means underrate the importance of out-of-pulpit duties. 
Every minister should find time, if possible, to see his 
people at their homes. But of the two, if instructive 
preaching and frequent pastoral visitation cannot be 
united, give me the studious minister, rather than the 
visiting one. 

Injustice is often done to a minister by his people 
comparing him with others, particularly with itinerant 
preachers. An evangelist, having perfected a few dis- 
courses by preaching them a hundred times, and enrich- 
ing them with every new and striking thought that has 
occurred to him, and with affecting anecdotes collected 
in his travels, must of course preach in an uncommon 
manner ;* especially when his fame precedes him, and 
produces " erect ears" and an expectant prepossession 
in his favor. 

When such a preacher retires from a place, his admir- 
ing auditors not unfrequently begin to turn and look up- 
on their own humble pastor as a tame and ordinary man. 
The great meteor goes down, and in the darkness which 
succeeds, the poor candle, instead of shining brighter 

* It was in this way that even Whitfield perfected his dis- 
courses and gave them their ultimate effect, eloquent as he 
naturally was. See his life by Southey. 

*11 



126 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBEiL 

in its socket, looks duller than before. It dwindles t6 
a taper. " Where are the talents and the zeal of our 
own and surrounding ministers, compared with such a 
preacher as he that has been among us !" 

Now there is an illusion here which ought to be dissi- 
pated. Take this wonderful Apollos and make him sta- 
tionary ; compel him to sustain all the cares and various 
monotonous labors of the settled pastor, and in the same 
pulpit from year to year to bring forth out of his treasure 
things new 7 and old, like " every scribe which is instruc- 
ted unto the kingdom ;" bind him with the seven green 
withs of parish duty, and cut off the seven locks of his 
itinerating fame, and then shall he be weak, and be as 
another man. He could not always preach the same 
exciting story-fraught discourses. Nor indeed would 
this be desirable. It would not be profitable if it were 
practicable. As for laboriousness and zeal, it does not 
require, nor does it show, as much of either, to go, as 
the revivalist does, from one exciting scene and tempo- 
rary field to another, repeating the same prepared dis- 
courses, without oppressive care or sense of responsi- 
bility, and with liberty to preach or forbear preaching, as 
strength or convenience may dictate, as it does to be ever 
sustaining the ceaseless, noiseless round of parish labors. 

I do not say these things in the least to disparage it- 
inerant preachers, certainly not all of them ; there are 
some that cannot be commended. I believe that the 
Lord has honored them in the conversion of many souls; 
and have reason to know how welcome their labors 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 127 

are in times too arduous and interesting for a pastor's 
single strength. But I think that justice to all concern- 
ed requires thus much to be said. 

There are certain prerogatives which are conceded 
to the pastor, in all denominations. Among these is his 
right to the occupancy of his own pulpit. It is for him 
to regulate his own exchanges, and to say whether any 
preacher shall preach in his place or not. It is proper 
indeed that he should regard the reasonable wishes of 
his people, as he naturally will ; but for them to assume 
the business of introducing another into his pulpit 
against or without his consent, is an invasion of his 
rights as a pastor. Suppose a Socinian or other error- 
ist arrives among you. and by authority of your society's 
committee, or by vote of an inconsiderate or clamorous 
majority, he gains the admission which he seeks ; and 
entering into your minister's place and fold, " brings in 
damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought 
them;" whose " pernicious ways" many are likely to 
follow, and " by reason of whom the way of truth shall 
be evil spoken of." Would you judge of your minis- 
ter's feelings in such a case, you may consider what your 
own would be, to see an enemy traversing your field 
with tares. It is beneath the character of a minister to 
share his pulpit with those who preach another gospel> 
and pull down what he builds up. 

It does not much alter the case if the intruder be or- 
thodox. He is a preacher, suppose, of another denom- 



128 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 






ination, or a traveling one of your own, whose piety is 
not questioned, and whose labors in other places are ex 
tolled in the newspapers ; still there may be reasons, 
and suffiicent ones, in the mind of your pastor, for not 
inviting him into the pulpit.* 

If it be wrong to force his admission, it is wrong to 
compass the same thing by such importunity, or inti- 
mations of displeasure, as the pastor will not choose to 
withstand. It may be proper to express your wishes to 
him, but beyond this you should leave the matter to 
him. When you called him to be your pastor you com- 
mitted to him the spiritual oversight of the society. 
You confided in him as a good and faithful man. If 
you have ceased to repose such confidence in him, it 
is better that the connexion be dissolved than that you 
invade his rights. He may err in given cases and good 
be prevented ; but as a general thing, depend upon it, 
more evil will result from the course which is here ob- 
jected to. 

The pulpit is a sacred public interest which must be 
intrusted to somebody. If it be intrusted to the pastor, 
as the known and universal practice, the people will 

*As the Pastor has a right to judge in the case, so he is com- 
monly the best judge, I have in mind several instances of 
preachers who not long ago were urged upon ministers as zeal- 
ous and successful revivalists, and by some were reluctantly re- 
ceived, to satisfy their people, and by others were with con- 
stancy refused, who are now preachers of a notorious fanatical 
heresy. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 129 

generally be .satisfied. But if it be assumed by others, 
dissatisfaction on the part of some, if not division, will 
be the consequence. 

Nor can the blessing of God be expected on the la- 
bors of a preacher so obtruded into the place of anoth- 
er: nor is the preacher himself, who will do this, worthy 
of common respect. 

What is here said of the pulpit is applicable also to 
the lecture-room, and to any place which the pastor 
statedly occupies, and where his people are expected to 
be the auditors. 

Of the same kind is the right of the pastor to be ad- 
vised with in regard to any private meeting, which it 
may be proposed to set up by the members of the 
church. It is but due respect to him that he should 
know of such meetings, and how and by whom they 
are to be conducted. I speak of meetings where the 
attendance is promiscuous, and teaching or exhorta- 
tion a leading exercise. In the case of meetings for 
retired social prayer it is not so important, though in 
that case it may be well, and encouraging, to the pastor, 
to let him know of them. 

On the other hand, in relation to the same subject, 
there are certain things which the people have a right 
to expect from him. If they have committed the trusts 
of the pastoral office to him, he may not, as it appears 
to me, resign those trusts to another. To make my 
meaning obvious, I will suppose that in a time of special 



130 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

attention to religion he is assisted by a stranger; and 
that this stranger, bringing his own novelties with him, 
assumes that he knows better than the pastor what 
ought to be done, and acts accordingly. He takes it 
upon him to direct what meetings shall be held, what 
measures adopted, who and how many shall be admitted 
to the church, how soon they shall be admitted, and 
the like. Now can the pastor, consistently with 
his duty, can he consistently with the trusts repos- 
ed in him by the people that called him, and the 
council that ordained him, stand aside from his of- 
fice, and give up the reins to this stranger? If the 
field has been committed to his keeping, may he con- 
sign it to another ? May he let Samson's foxes into 
it, to work what mischiefs they may ? I trow not. 
And I do not wonder at the complaints which have been 
made on this subject in some places. " Our minister, 
(said a gentleman from a populous town in the West,) 
is a good man, and a good preacher ; we all respect 
him : but he has given up his society so entirely to cer- 
tain extravagant preachers lately, that numbers are get- 
ting disgusted, and are gone and going to other socie- 
ties." A minister certainly should have the privilege 
of calling in assistance when it is necessary ; but he 
ought ever to maintain his place as a pastor, and never 
resign up his judgment and hand over his parish to 
others. 



CHAPTER VII. 
DEACONS, 

The office of Deacons was first instituted, as is gen- 
erally thought, Acts vi. 1 — 6. 

The qualifications of the men who are to fill the of- 
fice are, as mentioned at the time of its institution, that 
they be " men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost 
and wisdom ;' ; that is, of unblemished reputation, dis- 
tinguished piety, and judgment ; and more particularly, 
1 Tim. iii. 8 — 10 : "Likewise must the deacons be grave, 
not double tongued, not given to much wine, not gree- 
dy of filthy lucre ; holding the mystery of the faith in a 
pure conscience. And let these also first be proved ; 
then let them use the office of deacon, being found, 
blameless. " Which maybe paraphrased thus ; grave, sin j 
cere, temperate, not avaricious, of thorough knowledge 
of the truth and sincerely attached to it, and of tried 
and established worth. It is also added that they should 
be men who " rule their children and their own houses 
well." These are the qualities which churches are 
bound to seek in a candidate for the office, and this ia 
the character which every deacon should endeavor to 
sustain. 

Their duties are these : 

1. To receive and distribute the alms of the church. 
This was the service to which they were specially ap- 



132 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

pointed at the first. It is commonly assigned to them 
in our churches. 

2. To distribute the bread and wine of the Lord's 
supper. 

3. To act, in some respects, as assistants and substi- 
tutes to the pastor. In the pastor's absence they pre- 
side at the meetings of the church ; and when there is 
no preacher, they conduct its worship. 

They are to have some prominence among the breth- 
ren in things pertaining to edification, as teachers and 
leaders. This is argued from their required qualifica- 
tions, particularly from their being required to be men 
of more than ordinary piety and knowledge of the truth. 

"I see no reason why deacons should be required to 
be such as hold the mystery of the faith, a direction 
given concerning bishops, Tit. i. 9, unless this qualifica- 
tion was to be employed in some manner and degree, 
for the same ends. In a bishop this qualification is re- 
required, that/ie may be able, by sound doctrine, both 
to exhort, and to convince gain-say ers. There is un- 
doubtedly no warrant given to deacons in the Scrip- 
tures to preach. But there are a multitude of religious 
instructions, of very great importance, which are to be 
given to many persons, and on many occasions, and 
which are still remote from preaching. Of these the 
most formal is that class of instructions which are ap- 
propriately styled catechetical. Another class is made 
up of the teaching immediately given in private reli- 
gious assemblies. Another still may be sufficiently de- 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 133 

scribed by the word occasional. In all these it would 
seem that deacons might with great propriety to act : and 
unless they were to act in these, or some other similar 
modes, it seems difficult to explain why they should be 
required to possess skill and soundness in the gospel. 55 * 

From its being a part of their office to distribute the 
charities of the church to the afflicted poor, it seems 
peculiarly proper in them to be much in the habit of 
visiting that class of persons, for the purposes of sympa- 
thy and prayer with them, and of seeking them out and 
reporting their wants to the church. 

In regard to the manner of their introduction into 
office, 

1. They are to be chosen by the church. Acts vi. 
3,5. 

2. They are then to be set apart to the office by 
prayer and imposition of hands. This was originally 
done, Acts vi. 6; and there appears to be no good rea- 
son why the apostolic practice should not be followed 
by us. 

Such being the place and qualifications of Deacons 
in the church, they are to be treated with that respect 
which is due to such an office. 

As a general fact the Deacons of the New England 
churches have in a good degree possessed the qualifica- 

* Dr. Dvvight. 
12 



K\A > ?H&yfei> 



134 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

tions which are required. They have been men distin- 
guished for their sobriety, probity, and general excel- 
lence of character. The matter is proverbial. 

But as there are exceptions in every class of men, 
there must of course be some in this. We cannot al- 
ways tell what a man will prove to be in a new situa- 
tion. There are some people, it is proverbially said, 
who cannot bear promotion. We sometimes say to 
one who has hitherto been humble and unassuming, 
" Friend go up higher ;" but " in the highest room," 
he becomes another man. Elated with his advance- 
ment, he expects to " have worship in the presence of 
them that sit at meat with him." 

A certain minister, whose experience had been more 
than ordinarily unfortunate perhaps, said that " There 
never was a difficulty but there was a Deacon in it." 
The remark was quite too sweeping to be just : so far 
from its being true that all our church difficulties ori- 
ginate with Deacons, it is a general fact that they are 
eminently instrumental in preventing and healing them. 
But instances have occurred in which these servants of 
the church have affected more of the consequence than 
of the humility of their office, and proved but trouble- 
some assistants. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
RELIGIOUS MEETINGS, 

PUBLIC WORSHIP. 

It is susceptible of proof from the Scriptures that the 
public worship of God on the Sabbath, is a duty no less 
obligatory than the keeping of the Sabbath itself. He 
who sanctified the day, sanctified it to certain uses. 
x\mong these the services of the sanctuary are promi- 
nent. To neglect these services, therefore, is to mis- 
spend the day, however else the time may be occupied ; 
for it is spending it otherwise than God has appointed. 

If it be asked, then, what are the circumstances which 
may excuse or detain us from the public worship of the 
Sabbath, the answer is, they are those which release us 
from keeping the rest of the Sabbath, or from abstain- 
ing from labor, namely, works of necessity and mercy ; 
which some reduce, and perhaps correctly, to works of 
mercy alone. We may be absent from public worship 
when our own or another's sufferings or necessities, 
make it a work of mercy to attend to them. In such a 
case God will have mercy and not sacrifice. But to bs 
absent for any other cause, even upon a pious pretence 
of greater improvement by reading and meditation at 
home, is an unauthorized manner of spending the day. 
" Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sane- 



136 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

tuary: I am the Lord.' ?# He that stays at home to 
read his Bible, or better sermons than he would hear at 
church, may thank God that he is not as others are, ri- 
ding, working, or sleeping ; but he cannot thank him 
that he is keeping the Sabbath as God would have 
him. 

Our first duty then, with regard to public worship, is 
our personal attendance : and if we have families, to 
see that they attend. We should also draw as many 
others thither as we can. As far as we may without of- 
fence, we should invite our indifferent or slothful neigh- 
bors. It will often take but a word to turn their feet to 
the sanctuary. The practice of inviting our neighbors 
thus is no new thing. " I was glad (says David,) when 
they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord." 

" A minister (says Mr. James,) cannot himself ask 
people to attend his place of worship, but those who are 
in the habit of hearing him can ; and it is astonishing 
to what an extent the usefulness of private Christians 
may be carried in this way. I have receive very many 
into the fellowship of the church under my care, who 
were first brought under the sound of the gospel by the 
kind solicitations of a pious neighbor. To draw away 
the hearers of one faithful preacher to another, is a des- 
picable ambition — -mere sectarian zeal ; but to invite 
those w r ho never hear the gospel to listen to the joyful 
sound, is an effort worthy the mind of an angel. Shall 

* Levit. xix. 30. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 137 

sinners invite one another to iniquity — to the brothel, the 
theater, the tavern — and Christians not attempt to draw 
them to the house of God ? This is one way in which 
every member, of every church, may be the means of 
doing great good ; the rich, the poor, male and female, 
masters and servants, young and old, have all some ac- 
quaintance over whom they may exert their influence ; 
and how can it be better employed than in attracting 
them to those places 

4i Where streams of heavenly mercy flow, 
And words of sweet salvation sound." 

Every church should endeavor that no family or indi- 
vidual within its limits should neglect public worship, till 
invitation and persuasion had been tried in vain. 

THE WEEKLY CONFERENCE, OR EVENING LECTURE. 

The Christian should attend these meetings for his 
own benefit. They are an important means of grace to 
him, as well as of conversion to the impenitent. They 
recall him from the world ; they vivify his faith, and en- 
liven his affections ; they keep his lamp burning. He 
that neglects all religious opportunities save those of the 
Sabbath, is commonly but a cold traveler in the ways of 
God. 

He should attend them as an encouragement to oth- 
ers. Many appear to imagine that our evening lectures 
are designed for the unconverted alone. They are not 
for them exclusively ; and if they were, for that very 

12* 



138 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER* 

reason ought Christians to attend them ; first, that they 
may draw the unconverted thither, who are likely to be 
influenced by their example, whether it draw to ox from 
the meeting; and secondly, that they may increase 
the numbers, and the peculiar interest which numbers 
give. Every one knows what a full meeting is, in re- 
spect to interest and impression, in comparison with one 
which is meagre and thin. There is a deepening so- 
lemnity, there is a swelling and contagious sympathy, in 
the thronged meeting, to which the other is a stranger, 
though the exercises be the same. This kind of inter- 
est is the more important as it concerns the unrenewed. 
The Christian finds an inherent interest in all religious 
exercises, whether there be few or many present ; which 
the unrenewed does not find. It needs the aid of im- 
pressive circumstances to fix his attention and interest 
his feelings. 

The Christian should be present at these meetings to 
bless them with his prayers, and, if need be, to aid them 
with his gifts, especially in singing. Singing has so 
much to do with our sympathies, that an evening meet- 
ing suffers incredibly where this exercise is wanting. 
This part of our evening worship should not be left to 
depend on the Sabbath choir exclusively : it will often 
fail if it do. The church should have its own evening 
choir ; or rather should be itself a choir, prepared to 
sing on all occasions. Let all sing that can ; and let the 
place be filled with melody. How lamentable it is, and ; 
I am afraid, how sinful, that so many of our member* 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 139 

to whom God has given sweet voices, and melody of 
heart too, to which the music of pious song owes its best 
effect, should so neglect the gift ! Christian — you that 
can sing but seldom do, how can you answer it to God ? 
Who gave you the melody of your voice, and to what 
purpose did he give it ? Let all your powers be used 
for God. 

It is important to the interest of the evening meet- 
ing, as it is of every other, that the place itself where it 
is held should be made cheerful and attractive. It should 
be well warmed in winter and well aired in summer, and 
well lighted. A meeting suffers more than most peo- 
ple are aware by being held in a dim and cavern-like 
room ; where only a lamp or two dimly illumines the 
locks of the speaker, whose hearers abide in darkness. 
We are by nature strongly affected by the scenery about 
us. The cold, the gloomy, the dark, the cheerful and 
bright, the silent and the stirring, impart their qualities 
to our feelings. The children of this world understand 
this ; and it is one of the things in which they are prac- 
tically wiser than the children of light. How does the 
ball-room surpass the lecture-room, and the theater the 
church for brilliancy of illumination ? The primitive 
Christians, poor and distressed, and few as they were, 
gave the cheerfulness of bright lights to their meetings. 
When Paul was preaching at Troas, " there were 
many lights in the upper chamber in which they were 
gathered together. 5 ' 



140 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

THE SOCIAL PRAYER MEETING. 

As these are often conducted by brethren without the 
Pastor, I shall be excused for a few suggestions. 

There should be some one to take the lead in them. 
It belongs to the deacons, if present. 

They should begin at the hour ; else some will be long 
waiting before others arrive. No time is so tediously 
wasted as that which is wasted in waiting ; whether it 
be waiting for the morning, for the stage, for the wind, 
or for tardy brethren at a meeting. 

Let the prayers be short. In order to this, let them 
be simple, not embracing too many things. Err on the 
side of brevity. Some are accustomed to request the 
individual that leads in prayer to confine himself to a 
given subject. This is too artificial, and is often em- 
barrassing to the " slow of speech." However, as there 
are commonly some subjects more immediately before 
the meeting than others, the member that prays should 
endeavor to pray for those things, rather than for every 
thing besides. If we are met to pray for the heathen, 
it is not necessary in the same petition to pray for rain. 

The meeting, as to its length, should be confined with- 
in given limits. Then the mother will know before- 
hand whether she can leave her family so long; the in- 
valid will know if his strength is sufficient ; and so of 
others, whose circumstances might allow of their going 
for an hour, perhaps, but not for several hours. Short 
and animated meetings are better than protracted and 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 141 

drowsy ones. An hour, or an hour and a half, is long 
enough in ordinary states of religion. 

The social prayer meeting among Congregationalists 
is coeval with the denomination. This and the eve- 
ning lecture they have ever valued as the most power- 
ful means of religion next to the Sabbath. "It is usual 
among us, (says Cotton Mather, a century and a half 
ago,) for Christians to uphold private meetings, wherein 
they do, with various exercises, edify one another ; and 
it is not easy to reckon up the varieties used in them. 
It is observed that the power of godliness ordinarily 
prevails in a place, as the private meetings are duly 
kept up and carried on. 55 

There are churches of my acquaintance, and the 
same may be said of many, if not of most of the church- 
es of Connecticut, and perhaps of New England, 
whose weekly prayer meetings have been continued from 
beyond the memory of the living. And the history of 
them has been the history of religion in the place. 
They have ebbed and flowed with numbers, and waxed 
and waned in interest, as the church has passed through 
successive seasons of revival and declension. Often 
some private room has held the constant few that at- 
tended them, and often the church itself has been too 
strait for them. 

Female prayer meetings have been common in our 
ehfrrches, and have been greatly blessed. 



142 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER, 

Of the lecture preparatory to the communion, the 
monthly concert, and the occasional church fast, I shall 
say no more than that they are seasons which the con- 
scientious will not feel at liberty to neglect, nor the 
heavenly minded be willing to lose. 

Respecting religious meetings generally, public and 
private, it may be said that they are that upon which, not 
only the life of religion, but the external prosperity of 
the society itself mainly depends. In proportion as 
these are kept up, in numbers and in spirit, the power of 
religion is felt, vice is awed, division and decay prevent- 
ed, and accessions gained. He therefore that will be 
true to the body, will, as a practical church member, 
no less than as a devoted Christian, sustain, with con- 
stancy and fervor, its religious meetings. 



CHAPTER IX. 
MEASURES FOR THE PROMOTION OF RELIGION, 

The cause of religion being committed, under God, 
to human hands, the measures by which it is to be pro- 
moted are left, to some extent, to be determined by hu- 
man wisdom. What doctrines we are to preach, and 
what ordinances to observe, the scriptures have fully in- 
structed us ; and we have general instructions, and some 
'specific ones, in regard to measures; but not so detail- 
ed and full as to leave nothing to men. 

The Congregational churches, while they have beeia 
distinguished, and even proverbial, for their general love 
of order, both in church and state, have never thought 
it necessary to keep to one exact system of measures, 
but have wisely availed themselves of any measures 
which appeared to be judicious and not unscripturah 

Often, in low states of religion, they have deemed it 
necessary to ' break up their fallow 7 ground :' and in ad- 
dition to the usual services of the Sabbath and the week, 
have appointed special seasons of prayer and fasting, 
with serious visiting of families, and other movements., 
Such measures on the part of our churches have been 
greatly blessed of God in times innumerable. Thou- 
sands have from them dated their hope of eternal life. 
In times of special attention, more frequent and pro- 



144 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

tracted public services, and more abundant labors of eve- 
ry kind have been deemed important. 

There has been much discussion latterly about what 
are called " new measures ;" such, namely, as protrac- 
ted meetings, the public Ci anxious seat," female speak- 
ing in promiscuous assemblies, with certain strains of 
preaching and praying. 

I have not the presumption to think myself able to 
settle the matters at issue should I attempt it. I have 
looked at the subject with a conviction that some of the 
evils, seen and feared, are obvious enough to all but the 
authors of them, and that others are magnified by an 
over-cautious timidity ; and that whatever the evils are, 
they are likely to receive a speedier and healthier cure 
by being left to the good sense and private correction of 
the churches than by a. public controversy, protracted, 
and vague, and irresponsible, and in other respects not 
always happy, in the newspapers. 

Meantime there are a few plain observations, which I 
may be permitted to make respecting all extraordinary 
measures, whether ' new' or c old.' 

1. A wise man will neither receive nor reject a meas- 
ure simply because it is new. But being new, he will 
not adopt it hastily ; nor be deceived by its supposed 
success in places where it has been tried. He will look 
at the remote and settled tendencies of things, as well 
as at immediate apparent effects. Many a revival re- 
garded as wonderful at the time, the preaching and 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 145 

measures being all of a novel and exciting character, 
has proved but chaff in the end ; or worse still, a field 
burnt over. " Believe not every spirit, but try the spir- 
its whether they are of God ; because many false proph- 
ets are gone out into the world." There is such a thing 
as a solemn revival of religion produced by the Spirit of 
God ; the fruits of which shall appear to his glory in 
the final day. Of this let none be incredulous. And 
doubtless there are such things as spurious religious ex- 
citements, the results of which will also appear. Why 
should there not be spurious revivals as well as spuri- 
ous conversions, which nobody questions ; and why 
are not the former to be expected and guarded against, 
as well as the latter ? 

2. It is a matter of experience, however it be ex- 
plained, that novel measures, and especially very novel 
ones, do not bear repeating. The "church conferen- 
ces" which were practised extensively a few years since 
in Connecticut and some other parts of New England, 
and were attended with striking effects at the first, 
were attended with little or none on being repeated.* 

* These " conferences" were composed of pastors and dele- 
gates, or in some instances, of delegates alone, from some 
twelve or fifteen neighboring churches to each church in rota- 
tion. Reports were given on the state of religion, accompanied 
with prayers and exhortations, and sometimes with a solemn 
renewal of covenant on the part of the church visited. A part 
of two days was spent in these exercises. The delegates return- 
ing made report of what they had seen and heard to their re- 

13 



146 the: practical church member. 

The same has been true, I believe, as a general thing, of 
" protracted meetings." 

The explanation is perhaps not difficult. 

First ; Viewing these measures apart from the agency 
of God, there is a novelty in them, in the first instance, 
which attracts the notice of people and draws them 
together. Then the unwonted numbers which are seen 
assembling, and the strangeness of many among them 
who do not use to be seen in religious places, but like 
the excited hearers of John, have come out for once, 
as if warned to flee from the wrath to come, produces 
naturally a solemn expectation that God is about to re- 
vive his work. Wonder and solemnity, abstraction 
from the world, the pervading sympathy of a great con- 
gregation, and deep and expectant attention, prepare 
the ground for the seed which is about to be sown. But 
on a repetition of the measure, the novelty is wanting, 
the audience few, and the impression faint. 

Secondly ; That diffidence of means and instruments, 
that humble and earnest looking to God, that trembling 
sense of responsibility, which Christians manifested in 
the first instance, are too apt to be exchanged, in the 
second, for a vain reliance on the means themselves ; 

spective churches. The effects were apparently great aud hap- 
py, but not unmixed with evil. Union prayer meetings have 
been held with similar effects. In these a few neighboring 
churches meet, not by delegates, but as many as can. Prayers, 
exhortations, a sermon, and the Lord's supper, are the usual 
exercises. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 147 

which having been once successful, are expected to be 
so again. 

Thirdly ; God does not see fit to add his blessing. 
If it be asked why ? it is safe to answer, the reasons 
are best known to himself. Even so ; for so it seemeth 
good in his sight. Perhaps the reason lies in the altered 
feelings of Christians, mentioned, above, in their looking 
to their own arrangements rather than to him. Perhaps 
it is because his manner is to observe the laws of 
the human mind in his operations, and it does not fol- 
low that because a particular measure is adapted to the 
human mind, or to the existing state of religious feel- 
ing in a place, at one time, it is so adapted at another 
time. The probability is that it is not : so far as the ef- 
fect depends on novelty, it is certain that it is not. 

But fourthly, and as probable a reason as any, — if it 
be not irreverent to inquire on such a subject, — perhaps 
he withholds his Spirit lest we should come to make 
greater account of means of our own devising than of 
his institutions ; and rely rather on our own novel and 
and exciting arrangements than upon his Spirit. In pro- 
portion as we look for the conversion of sinners only in 
connexion with occasional and extraordinary move- 
ments, we are in danger of growing remiss and faithless 
in the all important stated services of the Sabbath, and 
other ordinary means of grace. Thus our religion 
would become a religion of times and seasons, — a se- 
ries of alternate short excitements and long declensions* 
instead of a settled habit and a regular growth. And 



148 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER, 

thus our Savior's instructive and beautiful image of " a 
city that is set on an hill," always visible, might be 
changed for a city hid in the desert, or sunk in the shades 
of a valley, and seen only in the light of an occasional 
conflagration. 

I do not say that unusual measures are never to be 
repeated, or that this is never successful ; but it is to 
be done with judgment. 

3. Whatever special measures we may resort to at 
times, our habitual and main reliance should be upon 
the stated and ordinary means of grace. Especially, 
should we look to the Sabbath and the preaching of 
the Sabbath;, as the great means appointed of God for 
the salvation of men. The Sabbath with its appropri- 
ate services is set apart for the special purpose of pro- 
moting religion ; and though God may bless other ju- 
dicious and prayerful endeavors of his people, it is not 
to be supposed that he will forsake his own appoint- 
ments to follow theirs; or that he will honor human ar- 
rangements above his hallowed day. It was the Sab- 
bath which God hallowed from the beginning of time. 
It was the Sabbath when Christ rose from the dead. 
The Sabbath is u the Lord's day." It was devoted by 
Christ and his apostles, in an especial manner, to public 
preaching. " As his custom was, he went into the 
synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to 
read." — " And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto 
them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out 






THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 149 

of the Scriptures." — And he reasoned in the syna- 
gogues every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the 
Greeks.* It was on the Sabbath, the day of pente- 
cost — that the Spirit of God was poured out in a most 
wonderful manner, and three thousand were converted.! 
More souls have been converted, probably, and will be, 
to the end of time, by means of the Sabbath than by 
whatever means beside. There is a solemnity, a sacred- 
ness, about the Sabbath, above every other season, 
which gives peculiar weight to the word dispensed, and 
is eminently favorable above other and more exciting 
occasions, to those distinct, calm, and conscience-reach- 
ing impressions, which ever belong to a genuine work of 
grace. What Cowper says of the pulpit may be said 
of the Sabbath pulpit pre-eminently : 

I say the pulpit, in the sober use, 

Of its legitimate, peculiar powers, 

Must stand acknowledged, while the world shall stand, 

The most important, and effectual, guard, 

Support, and ornament, of virtue's cause. 

To the Sabbath then, should our thoughts, our prayers, 
our hopes, habitually turn for the reviving of God's 
work. On other endeavors we may indeed expect his 
blessing ; but let us beware, in looking to these, that 
we do not suffer ourselves insensibly to undervalue the 
Sabbath. I fear there is too common a tendency to 
this. Let us beware how we induce or encourage an 

*Luke iv. 16 — 22. Acts xvii. 2 ; xviii. 4. 

f See Gurney on the Sabbath, Chap. 4. 

13* 



L50 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

impression, that the Sabbath and its services are but an 
ordinary thing — a matter of course, — from which little 
effect is to be looked for ; and that sinners are not to be 
converted, and the church built up, except in connexion 
with certain extraordinary men or measures. 

4. It is in revivals of religion, beginning or in pro- 
gress, commonly, that objectionable measures are introdu- 
ced. The extravagances of religion are never committed 
in low states of feeling. It is in these seasons, therefore, 
that we ought to be specially guarded. If ever we should 
keep our coolest judgment in exercise, and all that we 
do be well and prayerfully considered, — if ever preach- 
ing should be plain and full of instructive truth, if ever 
prayer should be reverent and simple, and exhortation 
coherent and lucid; however impassioned, if ever our 
meetings should be still, it is in such seasons of awak- 
ening, when God is with us and every mind is alive 
to every movement. 

I for one, am in favor of as bold expedients for rous- 
ing the attention of men, and for enforcing truth upon 
them, as the bible and common sense will justify. And 
I have but a moderate share of sympathy — perhaps too 
little — with some alarmed ministers and churches, who, 
because some ill-baianced heads and heated spirits 
have gone too fast and fallen into ruinous disorders, 
think it safe to retire into the opposite cold extreme, and 
maintain a cautious position in regard to all revivals. I 
would indeed err with the latter sooner than with the 




THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 151 

former, — with the over-prudent rather than with the 
rash. But it is wise to err with neither. Paul was 
neither a Jehu nor a man that stood all day in the mar- 
ket place. He did not give up the cause of Christ be- 
cause some carried it to fanatical extremes. He neith- 
er stood still in his labors, nor abated at all the energy 
and boldness of his preaching, nor slackened at all his 
exhortations to the churches to be active and faithful, 
on account of the abuses of the times ; which were at 
least as many and as afflicting in those days as in these. 

In all our "revival measures" and revival meetings 
it is important to remember of what materials the mass 
of the community is composed ; — how much ignorance, 
especially of religion, — which is hid, not to the vulgar 
only, but to the wise and prudent; how much prejudice 
and enmity ; how much veiling self delusion. Let us 
consider how many passions there are in the mass of 
human bosoms, which have frothing to do with religion, 
but which are susceptible of being excited by religious 
means; and how prepared ma&y are, ' by reason of 
darkness' to be led into deeper darkness ; and to " fall 
from grace" which they never had, into that last state 
which is worse than the first. — -by means ol a tempora- 
ry, perhaps permanent delusion* 

Let us consider too, what is the true nature of reli- 
gion, and religious exercises. Our object is, under 
God, to convert men. What is conversion ? One of 
the exercises involved in such a change is repentance 
for sin ; in order to which the subject must be shcnvn 



152 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

his sin : for how will he repent of sin except he see his 
sin? Another is faith in Christ; in order to which 
Christ in his proper character and relations must be 
set before him, as " the way, the truth, and the life." 
He needs instruction, then, in religious truth. How 
is this imparted to him ? Not by noise, or extravagance 
of any kind ; not by denunciation ; not by exhortation, 
even, however fervid : but by an intelligible exhibition 
of the word of God addressed to the understanding, and 
carried to the heart and conscience by suitable appeals. 
Men must become Christians intelligently ; or whatever 
else religion may make them, it will not make them Chris- 
tians. Knowledge of truth is essential to belief of truth. 

The first thing in " winning souls" is to excite atten- 
tion, and gain a hearing. This done, the less of nov- 
elty there is to divert the mind, and the less of sympathy 
or vague excitement, to deceive the heart, the more 
probable it is, that conversions will be genuine, and the 
revival long continued. 

There is no need of extravagances. We may be 
very zealous without confusion, and very ardent and not 
be mad. Men can hear as distinctly, reflect as calmly, 
think as deeply, resolve as intelligently, weep as freely, 
rejoice as truly, in the midst of an orderly silence, as 
amidst the many waters of a tumultuous assembly. 
" There is no need of praying as if God and man were 
deaf, or of wallowing on the floor, and frothing at the 
mouth, as if filled with hydrophobia, instead of the 
Spirit of God ; nor any harm in kindness and gentle- 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 153 

ness ; nor any benefit in harsh and severe epithets. 
The state of man may be explained to him so that he 
shall believe and feel, better than by calling him a devil, 
a viper, or a serpent. There may be as great direct- 
ness as is needed, or as is possible, without indecorum; 
and the gospel may be preached faithfully, and attended 
with the power of God, without groaning in prayer, 
and crying " Amen," and without female prayers and 
exhortations, and without that spiritual pride, which 
never fails to attend pressing the mass of the communi- 
ty out of their place, and shaking together in one chal- 
dron of effervescence, all the passions of all the classes 
in human society. "* 

But while I remark, and quote thus, it is due to truth 
to observe, that these things have not been characteris- 
tic of New England revivals. The revivals of New 
England have, with few exceptions, been remarkable for 
order and stillness, for pungency of conviction, and for 
abiding fruits. A stranger would be struck with noth- 
ing so much as the Sabbath stillness that pervaded 
them ; which he would perceive in the assemblies, in 
the streets, in the shops, and everywhere. May the 
ever continue thus. 

5. There a**e some objectionable practices, which re- 
quire some notice here. 

Fpfiecber's letter to B.eman on the " Western Revivals.'* 



154 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 



LAY PREACHING. 



There is an order of men specially set apart to the 
work of teaching and preaching. Their duties and 
qualifications are made the subject of careful instruc- 
tions in the scriptures. It must therefore be wrong for 
other men, not qualified and ordained, to assume their 
place. At the same time, there are certainly some things 
to be done by laymen. The injunctions, to ' do good,' 
to < bear fruit,' to be ' always abounding in the work of 
the Lord/ are to laymen as well as to ministers ; and 
plainly teach that there is active service for them. 
Moreover; action is important to health, spiritual as 
well as bodily. They cannot be very growing and 
lively Christian, who do nothing, actively, for Christ's 
cause. 

"An angel's wing would tire if long at rest, 
And God, inactive^ were no longer blest." 

But it is difficult to draw precisely the line where the 
forwardness of the laymen begins to trench upon the 
appropriate duties of the minister. What is lay-preach- 
ing ? The question was put to a meeting of ministers, 
who answered somewhat hesitatingly and variously. 
Is it wrong for the brethren to pray together ? to exhort 
one another ? to read and comment on the bible to- 
gether, for their common edification ? No. Is it wrong 
for a layman to warn the impenitent ? to reprove sin ? or 
even to address a promiscuous assembly on the concerns 
of their souls ? No : it were to be wished that pious lay- 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 155 

men, would abound, according to their gifts andaccept- 
ableness, in all these things more than they do. But it is 
agreed, I suppose by all, that for an unordained, or 
unlicensed man to take a text, or larger passage of 
scripture, and make a formal discourse from it, whether 
in a pulpit or in a private room, would make him a 
preaching layman. It does not alter the case materially, 
whether he be a private brother, or an unlicensed stu- 
dent in divinity, or whether he be gifted, or otherwise : 
so long as he is not regularly authorized, he is out of 
his province. Further ; for a laymen to give out his 
own appointments, except perhaps, with the approba- 
tion and under the eye of the pastor, — and expect the 
people to attend where he is to take the lead, and in 
all things except a text, or a sermon, to speak and act 
as a minister does, would generally be thought, I sup- 
pose, to be going beyond his line. 

The bible addresses ministers respecting their duties 
thus : " Preach the word ; — reprove, — rebuke, — exhort, 
with all long-suffering and doctrine." " These things 
command and teach:" i.e. teach authoritatively, as 
men authorized to speak and be heard. — " Charging 
them before the Lord &c." " Rightly dividing the word 
of truth &c." 

From these instructions to ministers — to take no no- 
tice of the instructions which are given to the people — 
we must infer that for those who are not ministers to 
" preach the word," or in any manner to teach or speak 



156 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

authoritatively, or with any appearance of eminence 
above their brethren, is improper. Let every brother 
use his gifts and influence to the best he can, for the 
glory of God and the good of man ; but let him do it 
with becoming modesty ,|as an uncommissioned disciple, 
and as claiming no more for himself than an equality 
with his brethren. 

It cannot be difficult, I think, for piety and good 
sense, with a proper attention to the Bible, to discern 
where, or about where, the line of propriety runs. 
Meantime the line exists, and is of great importance. 
Let all distinction of duties be done away between min- 
ister and people, and < confusion,' if not c envying and 
strife' and c every evil work,' must be the consequence. 

It was such confusion among the Corinthian Chris- 
tians, all ambitious of exhibiting their gifts, that Paul re- 
proved by demanding, Are all apostles ? are all proph- 
ets ? are all teachers ? 

FEMALE PRAYING, OR SPEAKING, IN PROMISCUOUS AS- 
SEMBLIES. 

What are our objections to this practice ? 

1. It is expressly forbidden in scripture. "Let 
your women keep silence in the churches : for it is not 
permitted unto them to speak ; but they are commanded 
to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if 
they will learn any thing, let them ask their husband sat 
home : for it is a shame for women to speak in the 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 157 

church. " # 1 Cor. xiv. 34, 35. " Let the woman learn 
in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman 
to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be 
in silence/' 1 Tim. ii. 11, 12. 

Respecting the first of these passages, it is to be no- 
ticed, that the apostle is upon the very business of cor- 
recting disorderly practices in Christian assemblies ; and 
he mentions females' speaking as one of these practices, 
and unequivocally disallows it. And of the other pas- 
sage it is to be observed, that it occurs in an express 
letter of instructions to Timothy as a minister, and to 
all ministers. The design, therefore, of both these pas- 
sages is as obvious as the language is explicit. 

How is it possible to misunderstand an injunction so 
plain and so repeated ! " I know (says one) that these 
texts have been explained away ; but so have the proof 
texts which teach the divinity of Christ, the depravity 
of man, the reality of the atonement, and the necessity 
of regeneration. Any thing may be explained away 
by those who are determined to obey their own will in- 
stead of the Bible." 

Let us attend to the reason which the apostle 

*The word church, in the New Testament, does not mean a 
public assembly in a synagogue, or house of worship like ours, 
merely, but it often means such small assemblies as met in pri- 
vate houses, and ' upper rooms.' " Salute Nympbas, and the 
church which is in his house ;" that is the church which 
meets at his house. Col. iv. 15. — See also Rom. x^i. 5. Phi- 
lem. 2 ; and the New Testament everywhere-. 

14 



158 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

gives. He says ' it is a shame for a woman to speak, 5 
on account of her relation to the other sex, or her place 
in society. In the passage in Timothy he gives the 
same reason coupled with another, namely, the proper 
modesty of her sex. He evidently means to imply that 
it is unbecoming for females to be so forward as to speak 
in promiscuous assemblies, for the same reason that cer- 
tain styles of dress are unbecoming. Read the passage 
in its connexion. " In like manner also, that woman 
adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shame-faced- 
ness and sobriety ; not with broidered hair, or gold, or 
pearls, or costly array ; but (which becometh women 
professing godliness) with good works. Let the woman 
learn in silence &c. For Adam was first formed, 
then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman 
being deceived, was in the transgression.'' 1 Tim. ii. 
9—14. 

The propriety of this reason of the apostle has been 
universally felt and acted upon by mankind ; in refined 
nations, as well as in barbarous. They have uni- 
versally felt that it is unsuited to the modesty of wo- 
man to speak in public assemblies. The bar excludes 
her ; so do the legislature, and the popular assembly. 
The reason of the thing is founded in nature, — not in 
prejudice, or custom, but in nature. It would be 
deemed monstrous for a woman's voice to be heard, 
as a speaker in any promiscuous secular assembly. 
Nor is her appearance in such assemblies ever 
thought of in any scheme of female education. It is 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 159 

in religions assemblies alone that this anomaly is ever 
seen : nor has the sanction which has been given to 
the practice by respected preachers and christian 
churches made the practice, as yet, respectable there , 
in the eyes of intelligent people. Notwithstanding the 
commonness of the thing, it is still felt to be an improprie- 
ty : and it will be, so long as nature shall control the sen- 
timents of mankind. 

2. Besides that the practice is prohibited by Paul, there 
are no examples, — or none which can be taken for pre- 
cedents — throughout the history of the several reli- 
gious dispensations. Of the " preachers of righteous- 
ness" before the flood, that we have any account of, 
none were women. Nor do we find that females ever 
officiated in the public services of religion, under the 
Patriarchal and Mosaic, or Levitical, dispensations. Nor 
did Christ send females forth to preach and teach as 
he did the seventy ; or leave any commission or give 
any instructions for their doing so, in succeeding times. 
There has been but one law about this business from 
the beginning of time. All that is said of woman in 
the Bible, from the day she was formed until now, — n]\ 
that is said of her character, her relations, her demean- 
or, is of a piece with the above citations from the apos- 
tle, and may stand as an impracticable commentary 
on them. 

3. She is not fitted for speaking in public. She may 
have mind enough, but she wants the physical qualities 
-—the voice and nerve, which are requisite. The voice 



160 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

of woman, like the susceptibilities of her heart, is de- 
lightfully formed for her sphere, — for the tones of love 
in her family, for the enlivening converse of the parlor, 
for the tender offices of sympathy ; but it is no more 
formed for the public assembly than the lute is formed 
for the camp. She is not fitted, I say, for speaking in 
public, and it is not to be supposed, therefore, that her 
Creator expects her to do that for which he has not fit- 
ed her. He does not gather where he has not strowed. 
4. It is not the design, or nature of religion, to im- 
pair by its requirements the proper character of its sub- 
jects. On the contrary, it seeks to heighten and adorn 
whatever belongs to our nature as God originally made 
us. It regards the proprieties of sex. It condemns 
effeminacy in man, and masculineness in woman. It 
does not require woman to cease to be woman be- 
cause she becomes a Christian ; but on the contrary, in- 
culcates an amiable modesty of feeling and demeanor 
beyond what she possessed before. But no female, and 
no young female especially, — in whom naturally there is 
the timid reserve of youth, as well as of sex — can en- 
gage as an exhorter, or leader in prayer, in the presence 
of men, (my mind revolts at the subject,) without her 
delicacy being blunted, in proportion to the frequency, 
and boldness, with which she engages in the unseemly 
and forbidden exercise. "There is generally, and should 
be always, in the female character, (says Dr. Beecher) 
a softness and delicacy of feeling which shrinks from 
the notoriety of a pubiic performance. It is the guard 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 161 

of female virtue, and invaluable in its soothing, civilizing 
influence on man ; and a greater evil, next to the loss 
of conscience and chastity, could not befal the female 
sex, or the community at large, than to disrobe the fe- 
male mind of those ornaments of sensibility, and clothe 
it with the rough texture of masculine fibre. But no 
well educated female can put herself up, or be put up 
to the point of public prayer, without the loss of some 
portion at least of that female delicacy, which is above 
all price ; and whoever has had an opportunity to ob- 
serve the effect of female exhortation and prayer in pub- 
lic will be compelled to remark the exchange of softness 
and delicacy for masculine courage, so desirable in man, 
so unlovely in woman ; and if we need farther testimo- 
ny, the general character of actresses is a standing me- 
morial of the influence of female elocution before pub- 
lic assemblies."* 

There is one passage, and only one, so far as I know, 
which is supposed to favor the practice of females 
speaking in the church ; which I will notice directly. 

There are, however, a few instances which I believe 
are sometimes pleaded : as Deborah, Anna, and the 
the daughters of Philip. But these were inspired wo- 
men, and are therefore not to be taken for precedents, 
unless our women also claim to be inspired. If God, 
who has a right to make exceptions to his general laws* 

* Letter to Be man. 
*••- i 14* 



162 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

has a t t different times imparted the spirit of prophesying 
to holy women, for the same end that he endued the 
apostles and others with the power of healing and 
working miracles and speaking with tongues, namely, 
for confirming the truth of religion, this cannot be 
pleaded to set open a door for all the sex to speak. 

The passage referred to above is 1 Cor. xi. 3 — 16. 
On this passage I observe, 

(1.) That the best commentators, and all the commen- 
tators which I have been able to consult, understand 
the females here alluded to, to have spoken under a 
miraculous influence.* Of the correctness of this in- 
terpretation he who will may satisfy himself by an in- 
telligent reading of the passage, and its context. The 
passage speaks of women that prayed and prophesied, 
— a word which never signifies speaking in an ordinary 
manner. And throughout the context, — read from the 
beginning of the eleventh to the end of the fourteenth 
chapter, — the apostle is speaking of miraculous gifts. 
These females then were prophetesses, and being such, 
are not a precedent for us, — unless, I say, our female 
speakers are prophetesses likewise. They belong to 
the class of Deborah and the others. 

(2.) The apostle reprobates the practice as inconsistent 
with woman's modesty, even in prophetesses, except un- 

* As most of my readers, probably, have Scott's Commenta- 
ry at hand, I refer them to that. They may read, if they please, 
what he says on the several passages before us ; 1 Cor. xi. 2 — 
16 ; xiv, 34, 35; and 1 Tim. ii. 11—14. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 10^ 

vier certain regulations, namely, with the head veiled. 
u Judge in yourselves ; is it comely that a woman pray 
unto God uncovered ?" And he demands if even na- 
ture does not teach them, that what is becoming in a 
man is not becoming in a woman. 

(3.) To make the most we can of the passage, it is 
not so clear that it favors the practice in question, as it 
is that the other passages cited do positively forbid it; 
and according to a well known law of interpretation, if 
two passages appear to be at variance with each other, 
that which is most plain is to determine us. The clear 
is to interpret the obscure or doubtful, and not the ob- 
scure the clear. 

There is, however, no obscurity in the case ; nor 
any collision between the passages. The fact undoubt- 
edly is, that some females endued with the gift of pro- 
phesy, spoke in the meetings of the Corinthians, where 
some also spoke with tongues, and some wrought mir- 
acles of healing ; but these were special cases belong- 
ing to those times. The general law, is laid down in 
the passages first quoted. In those passages a modest 
silence is enjoined on females in all mixed religious as- 
semblies. 

What then can be said in defence of the practice, 
when, as it appears, both revelation and nature are 
against it ? 

Is it said that women are often better qualified to 
exhort or pray in a meeting than the men that are pre- 



164 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

sent, and can speak more to edification ? It may be 
true ; but what then ? This does not alter the scripture- 
So too are some unordained men better qualified to 
preach than some ministers are ; but this does not jus- 
ifiy their taking the pulpit. So too are some wives, 
and mothers better qualified to lead in family devotions, 
or family government, than their husbands are ; but 
are they therefore waranted to do so ? We are not at 
liberty to bring in our particular case of expediency to 
supersede God's standing laws. If God says, let your 
women keep silence in the churches, it is presumption 
and impiety to answer, that they are qualified to speak 
and therefore they shall ! 

Is it alleged that good comes of the practice ? — that 
you can name the individuals that have been impressed 
and converted by hearing a female speak ? The an- 
swer is still the same. If it be not in the Bible, if it 
be prohibited there, it cannot be justified. How much 
good or evil it does, is not the question ; but whether 
it is agreable to the scripture. People are impressed 
by a great many things and good comes out of evil. 
I was acquainted with a youth who was powerfully 
awakened by an instance of anger and profaneness ; but 
I never thought of enlisting anger and profaneness in- 
to my system of means for converting men, on account 
of. the good which they did in that particular instance. 

But as for the good which is done, or supposed to be 
done, by means of this practice, it is the conviction of 
multitudes of sensible people that the mischief infinite- 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 165 

iy surpasses the good. It may serve to give notoriety to 
a meeting, and to draw a multitude together, some in 
the simplicity of their hearts to approve and be edified, 
perhaps, but more to gape and look on, as they do at 
the Caledonian Chapel, where they speak with tongues ; 
it may serve to make converts to a name, a sect, a par- 
ty or a fashion in religion ; and it may serve, possibly, 
to make some converts to Christ, — I will not affirm that 
it does not ; but that it is, on the whole, calculated to 
glorify God and advance the cause of Christ : that it 
tends to elevate religion in the view of the world, and to 
increase the aggregate number of converted souls ; and 
that it would |be well to introduce it into all church- 
es ; is unhesitatingly disbelieved, nay, upon the basis 
of the bible is confidently denied. 

But females need not feel that they are debated from 
usefulness because " it is not permitted unto them to 
speak" in the church. There are many ways in which 
they may be, and are, to their credit, exceedingly use- 
ful. In many ways of efficient, but unobtrusive influ- 
ence, they are winning souls to Christ. They that are 
acquainted with woman's history, from the beginning 
till now, or with the signs and movements of the times, 
will hardly think her behind the other sex, in the ser- 
vice of Christ. And I doubt not, when they that be 
wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, 
and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars 
forever and ever, — that then woman shall receive her 
enviable share of the glory, 



166 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

Thy works, and alms, and all thy good endeavor, 
Staid cot behind, nor in the grave were trod ; 

But, as faith pointed with her golden rod, 
Followed thee up to joy and bliss forever. 

HASTY ADMISSIONS TO THE CHURCH. 

There has been much futile reasoning and appealing 
to apostolic example, in favor of the practice of receiv- 
ing persons into the church immediately on their con- 
version. 

That this was done by the apostles is true. But they 
did it with reasons which do not exist at present. A 
willingness to profess Christ then, was, in itself, a great- 
ter evidence of genuine faith than such a profession is 
now. The times themselves " tried men's souls," and 
rendered probation unnecessary. For when believers 
were " made a gazing stock, both by reproaches and af- 
flictions," and were beset with " manifold temptations ;" 
when to be cast out of the synagogue, and to be scat- 
tered abroad by persecutions, and to be killed, as a ser- 
vice rendered to God, was the price of Christian pro- 
fession, it was not difficult, generally, for the disciples 
to know the spirit of those who proposed to join them. 
The thing most to be apprehended was, not that the un- 
sanctified would come forward, but that true converts 
would keep back.* And there were reasons which more 

* "In the primitive times, ihcy made such a profession [of 
their faith and religious experience] at their being added [i. e- 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH .MEMBER. 167 

nearly concerned the candidates themselves. They 
needed immediately the sympathy and fellowship of the 
church, to sustain them against the pressure of the times. 
But the practice was early discontinued. It was discon- 
tinued, there is reason to believe, by the apostles them- 
selves, but certainly in the first century, as the reader of 
church history knows. When i the churches had rest, 5 
and were multiplied, and it was less embarrassing, if 
not more popular, to join them, there was some de- 
lay usually before candidates were received ; both that 
the church might be better assured of their piety, and 
that they might receive, if necessary, the requisite in- 
struction in the truths of the gospel.* 

It is doubtless an error to put off profession too long ; 
but that there should be some interval between conver- 
sion and uniting with the church, the following reasons 
may satisfy us. 

1. There should be some time for the convert to ex- 
amine himself. For not all who suppose themselves 

by the act itself of joining themselves] unto the church ; and 
the profession had this justifying circumstance in it, when they 
endangered their very lives to make it. I make no doubt but 
in such a time of persecution the like profession ought to be es- 
teemed sufficient. But in places where the true religion is in 
repute and fashion, then to look for some other justifying cir- 
cumstance of a profession is but a reasonable conformity ttf 
the custom and manner of the apostles." — Cotton Mather. 
* See Murdochs Mosheim, Vol. 1 p. 97, § 5. 



168 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

converts, and that with rejoicing and confidence, really 
are so. There are some who i anon receive the 
word with joy,' but ' have no deepness of earth ; 
and when the sun is up they are scorched ; and be- 
cause they have no root they wither away. 5 u But let 
a man examine himself, (says the apostle,) and so let him 
eat of that bread, and drink of that cup." 

2. There ought to be some opportunity for the church 
to be satisfied. The candidate comes to them, as a new 
subject, to be received to their communion and fellow- 
ship. But this fellowship, to be real, must be justified 
by evidence. It must be founded on a satisfactory 
knowledge of the person's previous and present habits, 
feelings, motives, and views of truth. But all this can- 
not be taken at sight, and upon the individual's sim- 
ple profession, however apparently sincere ; when, for 
aught we know, he may be as ignorant of himself as 
we are of him, and when we have too much cause to re- 
member that in hundreds of cases the goodness of 
such as have made similar hopeful professions has pro- 
ved but as a morning cloud, and as the early dew. 

" Our charity towards all men, of whom we know noth- 
ing amiss, is to " hope all things" and believe the best : 
but when we come to make a judgment of them that 
lay claim to privileges with us, 'tis but reason that our 
charity should require a more positive evidence of the 
qualification on which the claim is made." 

It is therefore due to the members that they should 
have some time for a more private and familiar ac- 
quaintance with the candiate, than they can have from 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 169 

his confession, or from an immediate public examination, 
at the instant of his supposed conversion. 

3. A just concern for the purity of the church. If 
we are required to purge out the old leaven that we 
may be a new lump, it is certainly proper that we should 
exercise due care to keep it out. Who does not know 
that often there are many more who are disposed to 
press into the church than are actually pressing into the 
kingdom of heaven. Especially is this the fact in times 
of great and general awakening. Who does not know 
enough of revivals, and of mankind, to know, that it is 
a difficult thing to detach so large a mass from the 
world and add it to the church, as is often done, with- 
out drawing some portion of the world along with it ? 
How many secret ties there are, binding the renewed 
and unrenewed together, — ties of kindred, of compan- 
ionship, of love, which inspire the resolve that the one 
shall not be taken and the other left I Alas for our 
churches when this shall be our practice — when all that 
self-delusion encourages, or sympathy moves, or inter- 
est draws, or remorse and fears impel, shall be admit- 
ted without delay ! 

What is the object of examining candidates at all? It 
is to keep our churches pure. If once this practice be 
given up (says Owen.) " a world of unqualified per- 
sons will soon fill, and pester and corrupt the house of 
God, and cause him to go far off from his sanctuary. 
We may then justly fear that these golden candlesticks 
will be no longer so, but become dross and tin, and 

15 



170 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

reprobate silver, until the Lord has rejected them. 3 ' 
But we may almost as well dispense with the prac- 
tice of examining at all as to admit persons immediately 
upon their professed conversion. 

I do not know that any definite rule can be laid 
down as to the length of time which should elapse be- 
fore admission, or that this is desirable. It depends 
much on circumstances — the previous habits of the 
candidate, — his natural temperament, — his knowledge 
— his years, perhaps, and the clearness of his present 
views and feelings. 

GENERAL OBSERVANCE OF ORDER. 

This chapter on measures may be properly concluded 
with some remarks on the importance of a general ob- 
servance of established order. 

An interest so extended as the church 9f Christ, 
and in which so great a variety of persons are concern- 
ed, must have some general rules of propriety accord- 
to which its affairs are to be conducted. All societies 
have such rules. They are not always exactly defined 
and written, but they are such that it is not difficult for 
modesty and good sense to keep within them. 

These rules must not be disregarded. Every essen- 
tial departure from them is of mischievous tendency. It 
may be convenient to do certain things, in certain cases, 
when it would not be best on the whole. It might be 
convenient sometimes for an unlicensed student to 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 



171 



preach, or for an unordained licentiate to administer or- 
dinances ; it might appear to be well, in the view of 
some, for the ardent brethren of one church to push 
their labors into another ; or for a " revival preacher" 
to throw himself with violence into the parish of a min- 
ister whom he thought deficient in zeal; it might be 
pleasant to' some, and very lively and edifying, accord- 
ing to their notions of edification, that every one, 
when we come together, should have a psalm, a doc- 
trine, a tongue, a revelation, an interpretation. But 
think of the consequences of these things. What con- 
fusion and disorder are introduced among us ! What 
disgusts and alienations ! What discredit to religion ! 

If one, following his own particular humor, may 
break down the fence on one side, another will do the 
same on another side, till we have no acknowledged or- 
der, and are become " like a city broken down and with- 
out walls." There may be, possibly, too much regard 
to order, too punctilious an observance of forms ; but too 
much is better than none. 

The founders of the Congregational order were emi- 
nently lovers of liberty ; and they introduced into their 
system as much freedom as they could without licen- 
tiousness. They set up no superfluous landmarks. They 
run no unnecessary lines. But they respected decency 
not less than liberty, and feared licentiousness not less 
than despotism. " There is a liberty, (said one of their 
excellent magistrates) which is affected both by men 



172 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

and beasts to do what they list; and this liberty is in- 
consistent with authority, impatient of all restraint. By 
this liberty sumus omnes deteriores ; [we are all debased] 
'tis the grand enemy of truth and peace, and all the 
ordinances of God are bent against it." # They estab- 
lished their regulations with great prayerfulness and con- 
sideration, and with equal knowledge of the Bible and 
of men. Under these regulations our churches have, 
for above two centuries, enjoyed unparalleled prosperity. 
And it were impiety, it were treason now, to break 
down a system which has been blessed of God, and re- 
spected of men, so eminently and so long. 

* Winthrop. 



CHAPTER X. 

RELATIONS OF CHURCH AND SOCIETY— PARISH 
AFFAIRS. 

There is but one case in which the church and the 
society act in separate capacities ; namely, in the settle- 
ment of a Pastor. And in this they must act harmoni- 
ously, or not at all : their concurrence being necessary 
to an election. In all other cases, where their common 
interests are concerned, they act as one body. 

In settling a minister the order of proceeding is 
this. 

The candidate usually preaches for a short term upon 
trial, especially if he be young in the ministry, at the 
invitation of a joint committee of the church and so- 
ciety. 

The question of giving a call is first tried in the 
church. If agreed to here, the vote is communicated 
to the society, inviting its concurrence. In both bodies 
the majority decides. 

The call, being concurred in by the society, is offi- 
cially transmitted to the Pastor elect, by the commit- 
tee ; who are expected to communicate to him the 
state of the vote, the proposed terms of salary, with 
such other facts, or circumstances, as it may be impor- 
tant to him to know. 

If the call be accepted, the usual council is convened 
15* 



174 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

to attend to the ordination ; before whom the commit- 
tee lay the respective votes and doings of the church 
and society, with the answer received, and other docu- 
ments, if there are any, which the council may need. 

So various are the tastes and characters of men, that 
perfect unanimity is not often to be expected in an af- 
fair of this kind. But it is important to have as near 
an approximation to unanimity as may be. If the mi- 
nority be large, the candidate will not generally think it 
best to accept. Or if he does, the prospect of his use- 
fulness is doubtful. 

For the grounds on which the church has a separate 
action from the society, and takes precedence of it, in 
calling a minister, (the propriety of which is indisputa- 
ble, and which ought not to be departed from,) the 
reader may consult Mather's Ratio Disciplinae, and 
Upham's work* with the same title. The principal 
and obvious reason is, the securing a faithful ministry. 
it often happens that the majority of voters in society 
are not religious persons. It often happens that num- 
bers of them are worldly, vain, or perhaps, immoral, 
and that some are favorable to unwholesome doctrines, 
or to a lax and compromising discharge of ministerial 
duty ; and as such persons are too apt to consult their 
worldly tastes and interests, there would be danger of 
an unhappy election. It is true that the present ar- 
rangement cannot always prevent such a choice, but it 

* A book which every Minister should own. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 175 

affords as much security as the case admits of. Two 
majorities are not so easily secured as one. And how- 
ever the society may vote, the distinct voice of the 
church, unless the salt have lost its savor, will be for 
purity and faithfulness. The usage in question is scrip- 
tural, Congregational, and safe. 

SUPPORT OF THE MINISTER. 

The duty of providing for the maintenance of those 
who preach the gospel is so obvious, that to reasonable 
people there needs no argument on the subject. As, 
however, there are many who have never distinctly con- 
sidered it, and have but feeble convictions with regard 
to it, while others deny and decry the duty, it may not 
unprofitably occupy some pages in this volume. 

It is, in the first place, a matter of necessity that the 
people support the minister. 

The work of the ministry is such as to forbid his sup- 
porting himself; and how is he to live ? 

The Bible enjoins it on him to give himself entirely 
to his work. The work of the ministry is to be his one 
and all-absorbing employment, to the exclusion of every 
secular avocation. 1 Tim. iv: 13 — 16. 2 Tim. iv: 
1, 2. 

The work requires such exclusive devotion. It is 
enough, and more than enough, for all his time, all his 
strength, and all his mind. There are those who ima- 



176 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

gine that the minister's office is for six days in the week 
a sinecure, and that the seventh requires but a little 
talking, which costs nothing. Such persons know as 
much of the subject as the clown knows " what is 
done in the cabinet." Of the mental labors of the 
minister, more wasting than those of any other profes- 
sion ; of the multitude of demands made upon his time 
and mind, not only in the pulpit and the lecture room, 
but by the sick bed, the house of mourning, and the 
grave ; of his responsibilities, anxieties, watchings, 
prayers; of his duties abroad, as well as at home, at 
anniversaries, ordinations, councils, &c. they have no 
notion. 

That some ministers make an easy matter of their 
office, I do not question ; but there is no faithful min- 
ister who does not envy the farmer at his plough, or the 
mechanic in his workshop. Go into any faithful min- 
ister's parish, and there is seldom a man in it, even the 
most worldly, that has so few free hours as he. The 
minister, says one, " is the only person to whom the 
whole economy of Christianity gives no cessation, nor 
allows him so much as the Sabbath for a day of rest." 
The care of every religious interest of the church and 
parish, and, (in this age of benevolent enterprize,) I 
had almost said, of the world, devolves itself upon 
him. 

It is therefore obvious that he has no time or mind 
to devote to a secular calling to obtain a subsistence. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 177 

He must either live of the gospel, or else leave it or 
starve. 

If he attempt to support himself, his sacred profes- 
sion must suffer. There is distraction between the two 
objects ; and either in this or in that, and indeed in 
both, the man must be unfruitful. The experiment 
has been abundantly tried ; and the result is known in 
too many melancholy instances of a ministry careworn 
and barren, if not secularized and half apostate. 

This i* not all. While the profession of the minister 
precludes a support from secular earnings, it at the same 
time subjects him to many expenses which are not inci- 
dent to ofeher callings. 

I will not speak of the large expense of his educa- 
tion, — for which many leave the college and the semi- 
nary in debt. There are other expenses to which he 
is always subject ; as those of hospitality, travel, books* 
postages, and the like. 

Nor can he conform to his circumstances, however 
poor, as others can. If he were a private man, his ap- 
parel might be cheaper. But a people do not wish to 
see their minister in a very coarse or threadbare dress, 
especially on public occasions. If he were in a private 
station, he might occupy a smaller house, or one less 
central, and of smaller rent. But you would not wish 
your minister to entertain the strangers that visit your 
place, in a tenement so narrow as to be destitute of 
lodgings, or so incommodious as to oblige him to say 
to all, you must go elsewhere : there is no room for 



178 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

you here. By compelling him to disown the duties of 
hospitality, you would bring either a suspicion of penu- 
riousness on him; which is an unfortunate character 
for a minister ; for one of the duties, as well as virtues, 
of the minister is, that he be " a lover of hospitality :' ? 
or else the charge upon yourselves, of starving your 
minister ; which is an unfortunate character for a 
people. 

It is therefore a matter of necessity, that he receive 
his support from the people. 

But take another view of the subject. It is just 
and reasonable that he should. For he labors for the 
people's benefit. He leaves other professions, and his 
own interest, to be useful in this. Others labor for 
themselves. The husbandman toils at the plough with 
the expectation of enriching his own granary. The 
merchant traffics for gain to be appropriated to himself 
and family. The mechanic sells his wares at a price. 
The physician sends his bill ; the lawyer his amount of 
fees. The laborer expects his wages. But the minis- 
ter labors with no such immediate view to his own emol- 
ument. He alone, of men, goes and comes, studies, 
thinks, and labors, for the good of others, and keeps 
no reckoning. He foregoes emolument, spends his 
time, wastes his health, is a stranger to ease, for their 
sake. Upon what principle is it, of justice, or of hon- 
or, that he should do this and not be so much as fur- 
nished with needful food and raiment ? Have they a 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 179 

natural claim to his services ? Have they a right to 
command them? Not at all. He is naturally as " free 
from all men" as others are : and has made himself " a 
servant to all," only at their invitation, and by his own 
consent. 

It is therefore just that he should receive his support, 
leaving the necessity of it out of view. 

But, thirdly, The Bible inculcates the duty. It has 
no reserve or delicacy on the subject. He that calls 
ministers to their work has taken care that they be sup- 
ported. He has manifested even a solicitude on the 
subject which is very observable. Under the Jewish 
dispensation he charged the Levites with the service of 
the sanctuary, and gave for their subsistence the tithes 
and offerings of their brethren ; and he repeatedly 
charges the latter never to forget this duty, lest the for- 
mer, deprived of their only dependance, should fail for 
want of bread. " Take heed to thyself that thou for- 
get not the Levite as long as thou livest upon the 
earth." And again, giving the reason, " The Levite 
that is within thy gates ; thou shalt not forsake him ; 
for he hath no part or inheritance with thee."* 

When our Lord sent forth the twelve to preach, he 
said, " Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass, in 
your purses : nor scrip for your journey, neither two 
coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves ; for the workman is 

*Deut. xii. 39, xiv, 27. See Numbers xviii. 20,21. Duet, 
xviii. 1 — 8. 



180 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

worthy of his meat. Again, when he sent forth the 
seventy, he gave them a similar direction, adding, as 
before, that " the laborer is worthy of his hire." 

Paul is full on the subject. " Let him that is taught 
in the word communicate unto him that teacheth, in 
all good things." — •" Let the elders that rule well be 
counted worthy of double honor, especially they who 
labor in word and doctrine. For the scripture saith, 
" Thou shall not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the 
corn: And, The laborer is worthy of his reward. 5 ' — 
" Who goeth a warfare any time, at his own charges? 
Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit 
thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the 
Biilk of the flock ? Say I these things as a man ? or 
saith not the law the same also ? For it is written in the 
law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the 
ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for 
oxen ? Or saith he it altogether for our sakes ? For our 
sakes, no doubt this is written : that he that ploweth 
should plow in hope ; and that he that thresheth in 
hope should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown 
unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall 
reap your carnal things ? Do ye not know that they 
which minister about holy things live of the things of 
the temple ? and they which wait at the altar are par- 
takers with the altar ? Even so hath the Lord ordained 
that they which preach the gospel should live of the 
gospel."* 

*Matt. x. 7—11. Luke x. 1—9. Gal. vi. 6. 1 Tim. v. 17, 18. 
1 Cor. ix. 7—14. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 181 

The duty being established, the following are obvious 
inferences. 

1. A minister's salary is not a gratuity, but a just 06- 
ligation on the people's part. It is that which could 
not be withheld without injustice, not to say impiety. 
Of course, each individual, contributing his part, should 
not say within himself u I give this," but, " I do it in 
discharge of an obligation." 

% If a minister be entitled to a support at all, he is 
entitled to &full support. He is entitled to live of the 
gospel, i. e. to a living, or support. I will not discuss 
the quantum. If an expensive education, if talents, 
industry, laboriousness, if moral worth and exclusive 
devotedness to the public good, were to be made the 
basis of the calculation, he would be entitled to as good 
an estate as the same qualities might secure to him in 
another profession. But the minister's reward is 
not of this world. It is not in houses and lands, but 
in crowns of rejoicing in the day of the Lord Jesus. It 
is not desirable, probably, that he should be rich ; but he 
ought not to be absolutely poor. " Give me neither 
poverty nor riches," may the minister say, as well as 
others. A comfortable support is necessary ; some- 
thing more than this is reasonable. He should be pro- 
vided tor, not only as long as he is able to preach, but as 
long as he lives ; and his children also, till they are of 
an age to be above dependence. 

That he should be free from present embarrassment; 

16 



182 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

and above all reasonable anxiety in regard to the future 
is essential to his efficiency and usefulness. 

But it is too often the policy of a parish to ascertain 
by calculation upon how small a sum its minister can 
barely live. And too many ministers are barely subsist- 
ing for the present ; are straitened even, from day to 
day, with their utmost economy; and are trusting in 
God for the future — How they are to live when health 
faik them, how their children are to be educated, or 
their families supported, in case of their death, is known 
only to God. But to the man of God that trust is 
sufficient. God will take care of his own. 

3. It is the practice of some to withdraw or keep 
themselves from any legal connexion with ecclesiastical 
societies, because such connexion subjects them to a 
share in the support of' the minister, and other cur- 
rent expenses. If the money be raised by tax, they 
are not holden ; if by rent of pews, they do not bid ; 
if by subscription, they sign nothing, or if they do, 
their pride compounds with their selfishness, in a small 
sum that passes for a subscription. I say their pride, 
for their conscience, I fear, has nothing to do with the 
business. 

But let such reconcile their course as they can with 
honor, justice, and the bible. It is probable indeed, 
that many adopt this policy without much reflection. 
But they ought to consider that there is both impiety in 
it towards God, and a threefold injustice as it regards 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 183 

man. It is unjust to their minister. — but that is 
the least consideration ; it is unjust to their neigh- 
bors, who. in addition to their own share of the com- 
mon burthen, are forced to assume that which these 
delinquents refuse: and unjust to themselves and fami- 
lies, who. of all concerned, are in reality the greatest 
sufferers. 

4. We see how much reason there is for the cry of 
Ji hireling" against salaried ministers. This insidious 
cry is often raised by the infidel and ungodly ; but not 
exclusively by them. It has been too often raised by 
mistaken (but I hope well meaning) christians. But 
air the prejudice they can raise is laid at once by com- 
mon sense and the bible. Call it i hire? if you will : 
what does the bible call it ? It says the laborer (mean- 
ing the minister,) is worthy of his hire. Let no christ- 
ian hold this illiberal language till he is wiser than his 
bible, and would have his minister to be more disinter- 
ested than Paul. 

All denominations of christians have found it neces- 
sary, notwithstanding some experiments to the contrary, 
in some mode or other, to provide for the support of 
their ministers. The Presbyterians, Episcopalians and 
others, do it by fixed salaries. The Methodists support 
their preachers liberally, but in a manner peculiar to 
themselves.* I am acquainted with churches of but 

* The allowance to a travelling preacher is, for himself $100 



184 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

one denomination in New England, that have dispensed 
with, and condemned a stipulated support. The con- 
sequence has been as might be expected. Their min- 
isters have been obliged to resort to various mechanic 
or other employments. I knew one a post rider; an- 
other a cordwainer; another a rope maker. And their 
preaching corresponded. It had more of the dust of 
the workshop than of the beaten oil of the sanctuary. 
Good men, I doubt not, they were ; but lean in their 
knowledge of the Scriptures and of much besides that 

and his travelling expenses; for his wife $100; for each of 
bis children under the age of seven $16, over that age and un- 
der fourteen, $24, annually. Preachers whose wives are dead 
are allowed for each child a sum sufficient to pay the board of 
such child, or children, while under the specified age. 

A house is also to be provided for the family of the preach- 
er, and furnished " with at least heavy furniture," rent free ; 
also/weZ and table expenses. 

A house, fuel, and table expenses are to be furnished like- 
wise for the presiding elder of the district. 

The support of the preacher does not cease with his ac- 
tive service. "The allowance of superannuated, worn out, 
and supernumerary preachers shall be one hundred dollars an- 
nually. 

" The annual allowance of the wives of superannuated, 
worn out, and supernumerary preachers, shall be one hund- 
red dollars. 

" The annual allowance of the widows of travelling, su- 
perannuated, worn out, and supernumerary preachers, shall 
be one hundred dollars. 

"The orphans of travelling, supernumerary, superannuated, 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 



185 



* minister should know ; and fanciful and incorrect in 
their biblical, or rather unbiblical, expositions. And 
leanness and bigotry characterize the churches which 
have been edified by their ministry. 

5. The consequences of the non-fulfilment of this 
duty. 

Whatever these may be as they affect the minister, 
personally, they are more disastrous as they affect the 
people. The minister is a man of like infirmities as 

and worn out preachers, shall be allowed by the annual con- 
ferences, the same sums respectively, which are allowed to 
the children of living preachers." — Book of Discipline. 

I quote these things because it is the idea of some that 
Methodist preachers live on air; but more especially because 
some of these provisions, which respect superannuated and 
worn out preachers, and their dependent offspring, are very 
commendable, and worthy of the consideration of other de- 
nominations. 

As to supernumerary preachers, I presume there are not 
many among the Methodists. If there are, the propriety of 
supporting them I should think questionable. The laborer is 
worthy of his hire; but the bible says nothing about "super- 
numeraries"-— men for whom no employment can be found in 
the vineyard of the Lord. 

The money for defrayiug these expenses comes, of 
course, as it ought, from the people— either directly or indi- 
rectly. In no denomination are collections more frequently 
called for, with a view to the support of its preachers, and 
to other current expenses. There is no alchimy in Methodism 
any more than in other sorts of religion. 

16* 



186 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

others. He is as naturally cheered or depressed, stim- 
ulated or disheartened by circumstances, as other men. 
Nor can he be all that a minister is expected to be, and 
yet be something else, at the same time. And it should 
be remembered that whatever loss of vivacity, or effi- 
ciency, or time, his ministry suffers, in consequence of 
the people's neglect to provide for him. the loss is emi- 
nently theirs. The work of the ministry, his proper 
work, is to them the most important work in which he 
can be occupied. They must allow him to " meditate 
upon these things," — not upon his debts and distresses 
and means of living; and to "give himself wholly to 
them,," and not in part to some worldly avocation ; if 
they would have his i profiting appear to all.' If the 
deficiency of a too slender support is to be made up by 
somebody, it had better be done by them than by him. 
If I hire a laborer to do an important work for me, 
which shall require his exclusive attention, — to tend my 
field, for example, — it were better to give him his meals 
than to compel him to earn them elsewhere, at the ex- 
pense of half his time. Weeds and a starveling crop 
will tell me so, in the end. 

A people who are not willing, or not careful, duly to 
provide for their minister, are not in a state of mind to 
be much profited by his labors. There is evidence that 
they do not esteem him very highly in love for his 
work's sake. 

They are not likely to pray for him, atlea^t not sincere- 
ly. "It is curious to hear (says Mr. James) how some per- 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 187 

sons will entreat of God to bless their minister in his 
basket and his store, while alas ! poor man, they have 
taken care that his basket should be empty, and his 
store nothingness itself. Is not this mocking both God 
and his minister with a solemn sound upon a thought- 
less tongue ?" 

They have no right to expect the blessing of God. 
If it be covetousness, or indifference, which causes their 
neglect, these are not the feelings which God approves. 
We have seen that such neglect is contrary to his re- 
quirements. He considers it a wrong done to him- 
self. God has remarkably shown himself interested in 
the just claims of the laborer ; and expresses his indig- 
nation at those who withold their wages. Jas. v. 4. 
Does God concern himself thus for the wages of the 
laborer of the field, and is he indifferent to the suste- 
nance of his ministers ? Nay, doth God take care for 
oxen? for the faithful laboring animal ; and not for his 
faithful servants who labor for him ? 

He has called his ministers to their work with a 
scripture provision before their eyes, of support. If 
this is witheld, he will take care of his servants, but it 
will not be for the good of the delinquents. He calls 
it robbery, — a robbing of him; and declares it to be a 
reason of his witholding his blessing.* 

Finally ; it is no less the interest than it is the duty 
* MLal. iii. 8— 10— Compare with Numb, xviii. 20, 21, 31. 



188 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

of the people to support their minister. It is their 
privilege to do whatever is necessary to make his minis- 
try among them, unembarrassed, cheerful, and efficient, 
They can well afford to do this, even in a pecuniary 
view. There is no devoted minister who does not 
benefit even the pecuniary interests of his people great- 
ly beyond the amount of his stipend. All that his in- 
fluence does to save them from sin, saves them from 
that which is more expensive than godliness. Look at 
the parish which is blest with a faithful minister, and at 
another which is blest with none : compare the sobriety 
and thrift of the former, with the vices which prevail in 
the other, its inebriates and idlers, its frolics and ex- 
travagances, its litigations, and many other tax-levying 
iniquities, more exorbitant than the publicans of old ; 
and this shall settle the point, that the christian minis- 
try is worth more, incomparably more, I say, in a pe- 
cuniary view, than it costs. 

But what is it worth in a religious view ! If it hath 
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save 
them that believe, and if thus you and your children 
be saved ; if while you spare something of your tem- 
poral substance for the support of your minister, he is 
instructing you in that wisdom whose fruit is better than 
gold, and leading you up to an inheritance incorrupti- 
ble and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, how im- 
measurably are you the gainer ! How much is receiv- 
ed beyond what is given ? And how blind, how mis- 
erable the policy, which prefers the incomputable costs 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 189 

and losses of sin, pecuniary and moral, temporal and 
eternal, to the trifling burthen of a minister's subsis- 
tence averaged upon the community ! 

DIFFERENT MODES OF PROVIDING FOR PARISH EX- 
PENSES. 

1. The original mode of raising the Pastor's support, 
in New England was by tax. Meeting-houses were 
built, and other parish expenses provided for, in the 

same way. 

This mode is strictly equitable. Taxation is gradua- 
ted according to individual ability. It is right that 
each member of the community, enjoying a common 
benefit, should bear his part of the common burthen 
according to his means. This principle is so obvious, 
that it is universally acted on in civil affairs. Any oth- 
er mode of raising subsidies would occasion a murmur 
from one extreme of the land to the other. 

This was the mode originally established by God 
himself for the support of religion. Under the Mosaic 
dispensation, and earlier than that, each man paid his 
tithes, or tenths; which was strictly a tax. It was a 
levy graduated to each person's ability, or means, as 
our parish rates are. The same principle, or what is 
equivalent to it, is recognized in the New Testament, 
(1 Cor. xvi. 2) where each person is required to lay 
by for the purposes of the gospel as God hath prospered 
him; i. e. according to his ability. 

For a century and a half there was no objection to 



190 



THI 



this mode in New England, the people being all of one 
denomination, and sensible enough of the importance 
of religion to be willing to support it. But as the state 
of society lias changed, taxation for the support of the 
gospel has met with many obstacles from unreasonable 
and disaffected men, and has been laid aside, to a gi eat- 
er or less extent, for other modes. 



2. A common mode has been an annual sale, or rent, 
of pews. This method has one advantage, as it has 
done away, where it is adopted, the old custom of 
seating the meeting-house; a custom which still exists 
in many places. This was a delicate business, and too 
often occasioned unpleasant feelings. It never could 
have been practised so long and so amicably by a peo- 
ple less characterized by deference for public order 
than the descendants of the Pilgrims. This method 
has also other advantages. By appealing to the selfish 
principle, it secures generally a prompt and cheerful 
accomplishment of the object. The money is raised, 
and every body is, or ought to be, satisfied. It calls the 
people together, and annually revives their interest in the 
society's concerns. And it heightens the value of a seat 
in the house of God, in each man's feelings, as he has 
voluntarily paid a sum for it. What is bought is valu- 
ed; and especially what is bought in competition with 
others. 

But this method is not without its faults. It makes 
no appeal to duty ; or at least makes but a secondary 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 191 

and feeble appeal to it. Its direct appeal is to selfish- 
ness. In that respect its tendency would seem to be 
bad. The more people are accustomed to be actuated 
by principle and public spirit, the better. Appeals to 
selfishness are soon exhausted; appeals to duty never. 
Again, this method does not distribute burthens equal- 
ly, A public spirited individual bids off a high-rated 
seat, or more than one perhaps, for the sake of secu- 
ring the object, while seven selfish spirits will make a 
joint-stock business of one, and that a cheap one. 
And (which sometimes happens, but I hope not often,) 
some unreasonable selfish man, out-bid by his neighbor 
upon a particular favorite seat, refuses to have any, and 
goes elsewhere, or stays at home for the year. But 
there is no mode which is unattended with difficulties. 
Perhaps this has as few as any. This mode is not, 
however, practicable where the seats arc owned as pri- 
vate property, as in many instances they are, this being 
now the prevailing plan of building. 

>, A third mode is subscription. This mode is 
probably destined to be universal. It was practised by 
the primitive christians. ]t is a mode of which there 
j can be no complainers ; unless it should be the most 
1 liberal, who, though they have the best right to com- 
plain, are the least disposed to do so. The evils of 
this mode appear to be these. It is more precarious 
than other modes. It encourages the idea of the sup- 
i port of the gospel being a gratuity on the part of 



192 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

those who contribute, — removing the idea of obligation. 
It draws upon the generosity of individuals, rather than 
upon their ability, which is the equitable principle; 
and thus bears unequally on the liberal and the selfish. 
The obstacles it meets with are those which selfishness 
always interposes to the raising of money without the 
aid of legal constraint; obstacles which are the greater 
in the present case, as the call is repeated from year to 
year, and as many of those who are expected to sub- 
scribe, not only love their money too well, but are in- 
differently affected towards the cause itself for which 
the subscription is wanted. 

The idea of a subscription is, of course, that each 
gives what he pleases. But it should be remembered 
that the mode of doihg the thing does not alter the 
duty. Every one is bound in duty, and, in honor, to 
do as much by subscription as he would be required to 
do by tax. What ! are we such recreants to principle, 
and honor too, that it shall require the constraint of law 
to induce us to do our part? This may be 'pagan,' 
and it may be ' man,' but it is not c christian,' nor re- 
publican. 

The result of a subscription commonly is, that some 
do more, and others less, than their just proportion. 
The former, though not actuated by the motive of the 
unjust steward, experience the benefit he aimed at. 
They secure the good will of their fellow men. They 
raise themselves and their families in the estimation of 
the community ; and make to themselves friends of the 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 193 

mammon of unrighteousness, on earth at least ; and in 
heaven too, if they are influenced by love to Christ. 
With what measure they mete it shall be measured to 
them again. The latter have not the consciousness of 
self respect, and do not escape the pity and censure of 
others ; though the pity may be silent and the censure 
unexpressed. 

4. Funds. It has been the policy of many socie- 
ties to secure the support of the gospel by means of a 
fund. Funds may be well in certain cases, and to a 
certain extent: I will not say they are never well. Bat 
as a general thing, they are of doubtful expediency, 
To societies able to do without them they are a posi- 
tive evil: especially where the fund is sufficient, 
nearly sufficient for all expenses. 

It is a general objection to them that they are at va- 
riance with an important principle of human nature, 
There is a disposition in human nature to value that 
which is obtained at some expense, or sacrifice. Ths it 
] which costs nothing is nothing valued. God has im- 
| planted this feeling in our minds, and himself acts with 
\ reference to it. He has so ordered our circumstances, 
| that all which we enjoy, and heaven itself, is attained 
| with effort and self-denial. The bounties of his provi- 
i dence are obtained by labor ; and are enjoyed the more 
: jj because of the labor. The sleep of a laboring man is 
sweet. He has regarded the same principle in religion, 
He made the religion of the Jews an expensive religion . 

17 



194 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 



It had its tithes and offerings, and sabbaths, and feast 
days, involving sacrifices of substance and of time: 
and as long as the people were willing to make these 
sacrifices for it, it retained its hold on their minds ; but 
when they sought to get rid of them, and began to rob 
God in tithes and offerings, declension ensued, and re- 
ligion gradually perished. The same principle is re- 
garded in the Christian system ; its author having or- 
dained that it should be supported by those who enjoy 
its privileges. 

But funds overlook this principle. By making reli- 
gion cheap, they make it to be cheaply prized. A 
fund is all the while teaching the lesson, and ma- 
king the impression, that sacrifices are not to be made 
for the gospel, at least not habitually; and out of this 
ere long grows the impression that it is not worth such 
sacrifices : and if it be not worth the pecuniary sacrifi- 
ces, it will not long be worth the time and attention 
which it requires. 

I do not doubt that parish funds have been often 
raised and given from very pious motives, and that the 
pious dead are now reaping the rewards of such acts 
of beneficence and proofs of love to the cause of Christ. 
But in too many instances I fear the motives are rather 
those of selfishness and impatience of religious bur- 
thens than those of enlightened piety. The support 
of religion is a tax which the people are willing to get 
rid of. It is to be permanently provided for, if possible, 
by means of some pious bequest, a spirited subscription 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH ME3IBER. 195 

entered mto once for all, a lottery, or some other expe- 
dient. A feeling is betrayed like that of an old colored 
domestic, who being impatient of family prayers, used 
to say "Come, let us go in to prayers, and have it over 
and done with/' 

A people released by a fund from giving for the sup- 
port of religion, soon become confirmed in the habit of 
not giving, and such a habit is poverty itself. As an 
example of this, I am acquainted with a society which 
was formerly able to erect an expensive meeting-house, 
and to support its minister with a handsome salary, and 
which is as populous now and as abundant in means as 
it then was, and probably more so ; but having been 
blest with a fund for some fifteen or twenty years, it is 
become so poor as to have voted, that "the fund 
money/ 7 which is less than the minister's salary, is all 
they can raise. Alas ! what would become of them if 
their fund should fail ? — Of course, a missionary agent, 
" begging for money," can hardly be welcomed there; 
for how can they do for others who cannot do for them- 
selves ? 

A fund, when adequate to all the wants of the soci- 
ety, dispenses with the action of the people. Where 
there is no fund, the question is, whether to have the 
gospel or not. It comes up to every mind. It is a 
topic of conversation. It calls the society together for 
joint counsel and co-operation. This is of great bene- 
fit. It keeps alive the interest. Its effect is specially 
good on the young men, who as they successively come 



196 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

forward to manhood, are called on to act in the coun- 
sels and sustain the interests of the endeared commu- 
nity to which they belong. 

A fund naturally abates the mutual interest of min- 
ister and people. This may be said without impeach- 
ment of the feelings or motives of either party. Such 
is our nature. When a minister sees his people making 
efforts from year to year to sustain him, it is a different 
thing to his feelings from receiving the cold avails of a 
fund. It is a different thing to the people. They love 
him more and profit more by his labors, while they are 
actively concerned for his welfare, and can feel that 
they thus entitle themselves to his affectionate regard. 

And this is among the reasons for a people support- 
ing their minister ; and should stand for an argument 
on that head. It is desirable that they should, duty 
out of the question. It is sometimes advanced that the 
church alone ought to support the gospel, without call- 
ing upon the unconverted. It ought, if it must. But 
so long as the unconverted are willing to contribute to 
the object, they ought to be called on, as one of the 
best means of interesting them in it. That it is their 
duty to contribute cannot be questioned; and if it be 
their privilege also, as it certainly is, it is not expedi- 
ent, if it be morally right, to withold it from them. 
There is a moral influence connected with giving for 
religious objects, which appears to me to entitle it to an 
essential place among the means of bringing men to 
Christ. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 197 

A fund is liable to be lost. Then discouragement 
ensues. The society, like a rich heir made poor, comes 
to the ground without its accustomed means, and with- 
out the habit of supporting itself. It cannot dig : to 
beg it is ashamed. 

However, such a calastrophe commonly proves to be 
more startling than ruinous. I do not doubt that the 
loss of their funds would be the best thing that could 
happen to many churches. Instead of indolently re- 
posing upon their much goods laid up for many years, 
they would then place their reliance, as they ought, 
upon God and their own exertions ; and would begin 
to know a prosperity, which they had not known for 
years. Instead of lying securely and supinely, like sol- 
diers in a fort, they would set up their banners in God's 
name, and go forth to action. Action is essential to 
life. But there must be a necessity for action, or — such 
is man's sloth — he will not act. Hence the little spir- 
ituality, as a general thing, of rich churches. The luke- 
warm Laodiceans it would seem were rich as to their 
worldly resources ; for " thou sayest, I am rich, and in- 
creased with goods, and have need of nothing," says 
Jesus in his message to them; while the church in 
Smyrna, w 7 hich he commends without rebuke, appears 
to have been poor ; " I know thy works, and tribulation, 
and poverty (but thou art rich) &c." So the church- 
es of Macedonia of their " deep poverty" abounded in 
spiritual things. I do not say that poverty is a desira- 

J7* 



198 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

ble thing in itself; but it is less an enemy to grace, than 
great wealth laid up in funds. # 

None are supinely good : with toil and pain, 
And various arts, the steep ascent we gain. 

It is among the evils of funds, that they give an un- 
due influence to unworthy and wicked persons. They 
are a public bonus, thrown among the many, in the 
disposal of which the veriest heathen in the place has 
as loud a voice as the most worthy inhabitant. They 
give such persons a consequence in society which they 
never would purchase for themselves by their own 
liberality and public spirit. They sometimes give 
them an afflicting control over the society. Viewed as 
an instrument of power, they are a temptation to wick- 
ed men ; who if they can find means to get a legal 
possession of them, are little concerned about moral 
right. I could mention an instance of a society — and 
it is but one among many which might be mentioned — 
where a party, enlarging itself with all the wicked that 
could be induced to join it, was able by its majority of 

* When a certain bank failed, a few years since, in Connec- 
ticut, and carried down with it the treasured funds of a large 
number of ecclesiastical societies, may not the designed de- 
struction of those funds have been among the providential rea- 
sons of the failure of the institution ? Were not those funds 
the Jonah of the ship ?~And how is it with those societies now ? 
Are they not more vigorous* and more blest than they were 
before ? 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMEEii. 199 

votes to control the fund and house, and appropriate 
them to a most unworthy deposed man (to say no 
worse of him.) for a series of years ; a thing which 
never would have been done, had the support of their 
pseudo-minister depended upon the purses of those who 
employed him, and not upon the bequests of the pious 
dead. 

Finally ; funds are liable to be perverted. In how 
many instances are they now employed for the support 
of heresies, in this and other countries ? How many 
Unitarian churches, American and English, are subsist- 
ing by this means- — living upon the spoils of the piety 
of former orthodoxy ? Guard them as you will, expe- 
rience has shown it to be difficult to secure them from 
perversion. 

I do not suppose that all the evils which I have men- 
tioned, and others which might be mentioned, exist in 
every case. Perhaps in many instances none of them 
are experienced. The evils are, of course, modified by 
circumstances — by the manner in which funds are con- 
stituted, by their amount, and by the habits of the 
people. As a general thing however, the objections 
appear to be well founded. # 

* A history of religious funds would be an instructive docu- 
ment, So would the history of other funds. Our Connecti- 
cut School Fund, for example. That it has had a favorable 
influence on primary education, in our State, on the \vhole ; is 
utry questionable* 



200 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

As a means of supporting the gospel, funds, then, 
do not appear to be the mode which is either best adap- 
ted to the nature of man, or most consonant to the will 
of God. They are of doubtful efficacy to hold socie- 
ties together, and to perpetuate religion. They operate 
through selfishness, which is itself an enemy to the 
cause. The more selfishness is fostered in the support 
of religion, the more certain it is that religion will 
eventually fail. It is not selfishness, or the bonds of 
selfishness, that can hold men together in a healthful 
religious capacity. It must be principle that does this. 
Principle, and a living, active interest, with looking to 
God, are infinitely better than funds. 

And it seems to me preposterous, that one generation 
should think to discharge the duties of all posterity. 
God never designed this. Has he not made it as much 
the duty and privilege of one generation to support 
the gospel as of another, — as much our children's as 
ours? We cannot discharge them from the duty, we 
ought not to deprive them of the privilege. And, es- 
pecially, if funds be attended with so many evils, as 
we have seen, we ought not to bequeath those evils to 
our children. 

Let our children, or those who come after us, support 
the gospel for themselves. It is their privilege to do 
so, as it has been ours. We leave them our lands and 
means ; our churches and our bibles : let us also leave 
them our example, and our prayers ; and trust that the 
God of their fathers will be the children's God. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 201 

5. Sabbath Collections. It is the practice of some 
congregations, (though of very few in New England) 
to have collections every Sabbath for the support of the 
gospel. To this mode the following seem to be objec- 
tions. 1. The amount of such collections is generally 
small. 2. They induce a habit of giving little, instead 
of liberal sums, — the plates being filled with cents and 
sixpences. An agent of one of our great benevolent 
institutions remarked, that he found this to be the fact, 
generally, where this method was in use. 3. They op- 
erate to keep some from the house of God. 4. They 
take up considerable time, and necessarily divert the 
minds of the congregation, in some degree, from the 
sacred exercises to which they have been attending. 

It is true that Paul directed the churches of Galatia 
and Corinth to lay by something every Sabbath for the 
cause of Christ ; but he does not direct them every 
Sabbath to take up a collection, but only to have it in 
readiness against the time when it should be called for. 
It was wanted too for other purposes than the support 
of the gospel among themselves. " Upon the first day 
of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, 
as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings 
when I come." 

However, I would not discourage any practicable 
mode of supporting the gospel ; and in some places 
this may be the best. 



202 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

MEETING HOUSES, 

It has already been remarked that the place where 
religious meetings are held should be made as agreea- 
ble as possible. Religion itself being not naturally 
agreeable, should be aided with whatever attractive ac- 
companiments it innocently may ; and, next to an ac- 
ceptable preacher, nothing more invites people to its 
public assemblies, or elevates their feelings more, than 
a beautiful house. God himself has regarded this 
principle. He has shown it in the expressive and beau- 
tiful language of the Bible; in the splendor of the 
temple ; in the attractive and even exhilarating arrange- 
ments of Jewish festivals ; and in many ways. 

Congregationalists have been behind no denomina- 
tion in the number, commodiousness, and good taste 
of their church edifices. It may almost be said that 
the traveler in New England is never out of sight of 
one or more of their spires. 

But the zeal of the sons has not always equalled the 
liberality of the fathers. There are occasionally seen 
houses which from their ancient and neglected appear- 
ance might be imagined to have belonged to a by-gone 
religion, as well as by -gone age. With their rocking 
steeples, and bowing roofs, and trembling floors, they 
stand at once a mouldering memorial of the piety that 
was, and a mournful emblem of that which is, — de- 
cayed and yet decaying. 

It is in vain for a people to profess a lively regard 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 203 

for religion while they show no concern for the beauty 
of its temple. Neither God nor man is likely to per- 
ceive it. God reproves such neglect. u Thus speak- 
eth the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The 
time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should 
be built. — Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your 
ceiled houses and this house lie waste ? — Therefore the 
heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is 
stayed from her fruit."* 

Societies often imagine themselves too poor to build 
a new house. It is a great mistake. They are in real- 
ity too poor to endure with the old one ; for nothing 
tends so much to indifference, and lean congregations, 
as a gloomy or comfortless house. " Yet a little sleep, 
a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, 
[in this matter ;] so shall thy poverty come as one that 
traveleth, and thy want as an armed man." If you 
wish to encourage the growth of other denominations 
at the expense of your own, let your old house stand 
while they build new ones. 

A society commonly finds itself surprisingly increas- 
ed in ability and vigor in consequence of erecting a 
new house of worship. By awaking its long slumber- 
ing public spirit to the holy and delightful enterprise, 
by mustering its resources, and interesting many who 
before were indifferent, or not known to the society as 
members, it has found itself, at the conclusion of the 



204 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

enterprise, with increased numbers and diminished bur- 
thens. The effort that threatened to exhaust its re- 
sources, has greatly increased them. All feel a new 
impulse. The preacher is more animated, the congre- 
gation larger and more attentive. A new respect is 
felt for the sanctity of God's house and worship. The 
old house was so little delighted in, that many felt at 
liberty to dishonor it. The pews were covered with 
cuttings, the floors with defilement ; and many made 
it a place of indecent lounging and repose. 

The following things are so obvious that they scarce- 
ly need suggesting. 

A house of worship should be built in a good archi- 
tectural taste. It should be plain and strikingly chaste 
and neat. Excessive or fanciful ornament is not in 
keeping w r ith the simplicity of christian worship. It 
should be " beautiful for situation." " On an hill," 
that it " cannot be hid," is better than in a hollow — 
where I have seen churches, even with beautiful emi- 
nences around them. It should be adorned, but not 
benighted, with trees. The house of the Lord was 
beautified with trees in the ancient time, as appears 
from the beautiful allusions which are made to them in 
the Psalms. 

There should be some free seats in every house of 
worship, but it is not desirable that the seats should all 
be free, — except perhaps in Free churches, in cities. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 205 

It is not agreeable to most people to sit promiscuously. 
It is desirable to each family to have its own pew : and 
it is pleasant to see them together, in their place. Hav- 
ing their own pew, they can keep their bibles and 
psalm books there ; they can cushion it, if they choose, 
and can keep it cleanly, being not annoyed by the un- 
cleanly habits of others, especially tobacco-users : they 
can go to the house of God knowing where they are 
to find a seat, without care or embarrassment ; and 
children can sit with their parents and be under their 
inspection. God himself, in all his institutions, has 
paid great regard to the family relation, and we ought 
not to do otherwise in our arrangements for public 
worship. 

But while it is not desirable that the house should 
be open for an entirely promiscuous occupancy, there 
ought to prevail a most liberal spirit of accommodation 
towards all who may wish for room. It is unreasona- 
ble and wicked that any family should be excluded 
from the house of God so long as there is a single slip 
whose occupants could make room for more. 

SECULAR USE OF CHURCHES. 

It has been a practice with Congregationalists in 
New England to open their meeting-houses for other 
purposes than those which are religious, such as elec- 
tions, political anniversaries, and other celebrations. 
The practice originated perhaps in the desire which 

18 



206 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

our fathers had, in common with other puritans and 
reformers, to discountenance that extreme superstitious 
regard which Catholics were wont to pay to consecra- 
ted places ; and also in the fact that their civil affairs 
were closely blended with those of religion. 

How far the practice may be justifiable in the view 
of others I cannot say ; but to me it has seemed desi- 
rable that it should be discontinued. 

There is a certain feeling of respect for sacred pla- 
ces and things which is not superstitious, but natural 
and proper ; and which it is desirable to preserve and 
cherish, — but which the practice in question is calcula- 
ted to destroy. The power of association must neces- 
sarily operate in this as in other cases. When we en- 
ter a theatre, or a senate-chamber, the very walls tell 
us of the things transacted there. When we enter a 
church our associations with the place should be natur- 
ally and only religious : but if within those walls we 
have witnessed the strifes of a warm political election, 
or have seen the pulpit occupied by a political orator. 
we can hardly exclude such things from our recollec- 
tion. 

I cannot help thinking that thus to familiarize peo- 
ple to all sorts of uses of the house of God has a ten- 
dency to make them less scrupulous about their behav- 
ior in it ; and less scrupulous as to the persons who 
shall be allowed to enter it as preachers. To day God 
is worshipped in it, and Christ is preached ; to-morrow 
it is the scene of political contention : and the day fol- 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 207 

lowing it is, without much compunction, made to ac- 
commodate some minister of heresy. If these, and 
such like, are to be the allowed uses of the edifice, 
they had better be mentioned in the act of dedication, 
and the house be dedicated to God, the town, and oth- 
er objects. There seems to be inconsistency, if not 
irreverence, to dedicate it to God, and call it his, and 
then make it as common to other uses as to his wor- 
ship. 

I would by no means encourage a superstitious rev- 
erence for wood and stone ; nor would I object to as 
liberal a use of our churches as may be consistent with 
the professed design of their erection. I would not 
confine them to religious exercises simply, but would 
freely open them to other objects which are obviously 
related and subservient to religion. But beyond this 
their use is questionable. God has said u Ye shall rev- 
erence my sanctuary." Christ was offended at the 
secular concerns which he found within the precincts 
of the temple, and drove them out. 

Civil communities, as such, have no right to claim 
the use of our churches. They are able, and should 
be willing, to provide buildings for their own pur- 
poses. 

PARSONAGES. 

As a society will always want a minister, and the 
minister will want a house, it were well if every soci- 



908 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

ety would own a parsonage-house. It is often difficult 
for a minister to rent a house, and embarrassing to him 
to build. If he depends on renting one, he can occu- 
py it only so long as may suit the convenience of the 
proprietor. He moves about a tenant at will. That 
he should be obliged to build, in these unsettled times, 
even if able, is hardly reasonable. For it is not im- 
probable, dismissions being now so lamentably com- 
mon, that by the time he has completed the building, 
having exhausted his narrow resources upon it, and 
more, perhaps, he is obliged to leave it to stand empty, 
or else to part with it at a sacrifice by means of a forced 

sale. 

If a minister do build, especially if necessitated to 
do so, the property ought, in case of his dismission, 
to be taken 'off his hands by the society at its fair 
value ; and any reasonable embarrassment he may have 
experienced in consequence of building ought to be 
considered in the purchase. 

It is obvious that a society can more easily furnish 
a house for its minister than he can for himself. In- 
deed the society can do it with little difficulty and 
considerable advantage. The use of the place will 
in part support the pastor ; so that less will have to 
be raised in money. And by being the known family 
residence of the minister, it becomes, like the meeting- 
house itself, a common object of attachment, and a 
bond of union to the people. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 209 

THE YOUNG MEN. 

Young men, as one of their first acts, on coming of 
age, should become members in form, of the ecclesias- 
tical society. I will not urge this on the ground of 
their worldly advancement ; though I might do this, 
for there is no more favorable introduction of a young 
man to the notice and esteem of the community ; but 
I urge the nobler plea of citizenship and duty. Not 
coming forward to act as citizens, they might as well 
be minors still, — they are minors — as it regards society. 

They often keep back from modesty, or not knowing 
the mode of becoming members. Pains should be ta- 
ken to inform them.* 

SCHOOLS. 

Common schools ana higher seminaries are an es- 
sential part of the polity and practice of Congregation- 
alists. The Practical Church Member then will be in- 
terested in these. As an enlightened citizen, and still 
more as a christian, he will give his effectual support to 

* In Connecticut a person becomes a member of an Ecclesi- 
astical Society by lodging a certificate of bis intention to be- 
long to it, with the clerk, or if there be no clerk, with any other 
officer of the society. He thus becomes entitled to vote and 
act in all respects as a member, unless a majority of the soci- 
ety shall " dissent thereto," at its next regular meeting. 

la like manner any person ceases to be a member by lodging 
a certificate to that effect. 

18* 



210 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

the cause of popular education and general intelligence. 
A New Englander and a Congregationalism of all 
men, should be the last to be negligent of schools ; for 
it is to the intelligence of her people that New England 
and her Congregational churches have owed their pros- 
perity. Popular ignorance would be the greatest ene- 
my which Congregationalism would have to fear. It is 
too republican in its polity to thrive with ignorance. 
Besides this, it is the least informed among us that are 
most exposed to the arts of proselytism. 



CHAPTER XI. 
INTERCOURSE OF CHURCHES. 

No churches have loved and respected each other 
more than the Congregational. Their common and 
venerated parentage ; their intelligent piety ; their un- 
broken vicinity; living as they do within sight of 
each other's spires, and within sound of each other's 
bells, throughout their beloved New England; their pi- 
ous and respected authors ; their many revivals ; their 
common and noble enterprizes for the good of posterity 
and the world, — these have been the bonds of their 
endearment. 

But the relations which subsist in the affections only, 
however delightful and profitable to dwell on, are to- 
pics which are not within the plan of this volume. I 
confine myself to matters of ordinary practical inter- 
course between the churches. 

DISMISSION OF MEMBERS FROM ONE CHURCH TO ANO- 
THER. 

Members proposing to transfer their relationship from 
one church to another, receive letters of dismission and 
recommendation to that effect. 

When a member goes to reside in another place for 
a season only, expecting to return, and not choosing to 



212 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER, 

dissolve his existing connection, he receives a letter 
certifying his standing merely and commending him to 
the fellowship of the church where he proposes to be, 
for the time being. 

The practice of giving such letters is primitive. See 
an example Romans xvi. 1, 2. "I commend unto you 
Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church 
which is at Cenchrea ; that ye receive her in the Lord, 
as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever 
business she hath need of you : for she hath been a 
succourer of many, and of myself also." The propri- 
ety of the practice is obvious. It is grateful to a church 
to commend a beloved member, called in providence 
to leave them, to the christian regard of others ; while 
at the same time such testimonials are necessary to pre- 
vent impositions. 

The dismission by letter is conditional. If the mem- 
ber be not received by the church to which he is dis- 
missed, he remains connected as he was. 

And here let us observe the importance of good faith 
in this business, on the part of the dismissing church. 
No church should dismiss and recommend a member 
to another, as in regular standing, who is in reality not 
so, or ought not to be so considered. Think of the 
character of such a transaction ; and of its tendencies 
and consequences. How far removed is it from fraud? 
and if practised commonly, how soon would it annihi- 
late the mutual confidence of the churches ? But I 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 213 

fear this is sometimes done, — through want, no doubt, 
of due consideration. A member finding himself in 
doubtful standing with his church, and probably obnox- 
ious to its censure, thinks it best to take a dismission 
and go elsewhere; and the church, willing enough to 
part with him, inconsiderately thinks it best to grant 
his request. It is easier for them to pass a vote and 
write a letter, than to incur the trouble of a course of 
discipline. Let no such thing be done ! If we say 
a member is in good standing let him be so in reality. 
Let him be worthy of the fellowship to which we re- 
commend him; as we deem him worthy of our own. 
If we certify his good and regular standing, let us mean 
as the words import , and not merely that he is a mem- 
ber who has not been actually subjected to church cen- 
sure. Why should one church unwittingly be burthen- 
ed with the disorderly members of another? — whose 
offences they must discipline, or bear the opprobrium 
of their names. 

The church also to which we dismiss a member must 
be a church in good standing. How can we commend 
a disciple of Christ to the fellowship of heretics ! a be- 
liever in Christ to the communion of those who deny 
the Lord that bought them ! Or how can we commend 
one striving to keep himself pure, to the watch and 
care of them that are corrupt ! What fellowship hath 
righteousness with unrighteousness? and what com- 
munion hath light with darkness ? and what concord 



214 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

hath Christ with Belial ? or what part hath he that be- 
lieveth with an infidel? and what agreement hath the 
temple of God with idols ? 

For the same reason, we cannot dismiss a member 
to the world. u The church cannot make a member 
no member, but by excommunication.' 5 * 

Every church has an acknowledged right to examine 
those whom it receives by letter, in the same manner as 
it examines those who are received on profession. But 
this is not generally practiced. Nor is it generally de- 
sirable. It would imply a want of confidence in a sis- 
ter church, whose written testimony (unless it is known 
or supposed to be corrupt) should be sufficient. 

No member of a church should permanently change 
his residence from one parish, or part of the country, 
to another, without taking a regular letter of dismis- 
sion. This is due to all concerned. As a professor of 
religion, he is bound always to maintain a responsible 
connexion with some particular church ; and be subject 
to its watch and discipline. 

This is too often neglected. It is a subject of grow- 
ing complaint in our churches ; and some of them, in 
order to remedy it, have adopted a rule, that no person 
coming from abroad, and neglecting to bring such let- 
ter, shall be admitted to their communion, after a cer- 
tain time. 

* Carab. Platform. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 215 

EXCHANGES. 

The exchanges of ministers is one species of the in- 
tercourse of churches. On this I make but one re- 
mark, but that one I would not willingly omit. 

When a neighboring minister occupies your pulpit, 
however humble his gifts, treat him with respect; — 
with that respect which is due not only to him, as a 
minister, but to a sister church whom you profess to 
love, whose minister he is. Call him not " dull," or 
" uninteresting;' 5 and if he really is so, do not show 
him the disrespect of going to sleep, or going else- 
where. This hurts him, — unless he has grace and 
conscious worth enough to raise him above it ; and it 
hurts his people, who know and love him as their pas- 
tor. It hurts his usefulness, — which, humble as he is 
in your account, may transcend the usefulness of many 
a famous man ; for the foolish things, and the weak 
things of the world, are often the chosen instruments 
of God. It is moreover a poor compliment to your- 
selves, and a doubtful one to your minister; who, 
grateful as he may be for your regard for him, will be 
more pained than flattered, when unkindness to a 
brother is the medium through which your partiality is 
manifested. 

COUNCILS. 

Councils are the representative bodies of the church- 



816 THI p ™ CH0RCH " EMEEE - 

es. They are composed of ministers and laymen, 
and are convened, usually, from churches of the same 
neighborhood, or district, but sometimes from places 
more remote. 

In Connecticut, where the churches, with some ex- 
ceptions, are consociated, we have standing councils, 
called consociations. A consociation comprises the 
churches of a county, or, in the larger counties, the 
churches of half the county ; those few churches be- 
ing excepted which prefer not to be consociated. It 
is expected that churches belonging to the consociation 
will resort to it rather than to a select council, on all 
occasions when a council is needed. 

Where churches are not consociated, Occasional, or 
Select councils are had ; that is, councils which are cre- 
ated for each particular occasion, and which cease to 
exist when the occasion is passed. 

I shall not canvass the arguments which are com- 
monly advanced respecting the comparative advanta- 
ges of these different modes of constituting councils. 
The consociation has at least these advantages : being 
a permanent body, it can have its established rules of 
proceeding, and its permanent records. 

Councils are also Mutual and Ex-parte. Mutual 
councils suppose the existence of two parties who 
agree to refer the matter between them to a council ; 
each choosing an equal number of the churches com- 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 217 

posing it, with an additional church chosen jointly by 
the parties if it be thought expedient. The consocia- 
tion is a mutual council, being constituted prior to the 
existence of parties, and of course without reference 
to them. An Ex-parte council is a council called by 
one of the parties, the other not concurring. This lat- 
ter is little known in Connecticut. 

The occasions on which councils are called are such 
as these : the gathering of churches ; the ordination, 
dismission, or deposition, of ministers ; troublesome 
cases of discipline, dissentions, or other difficulties in 
a church, which the church itself is unable, or indispo- 
sed, to settle ; and in general, all those occasions which 
require the advice, or concurrent action, of more 
churches than one. 

The powers of councils. They have properly no 
juridical, but only advisory powers. Nevertheless, the 
moral reasons for abiding by their advice are such that 
it is seldom rejected. Embodying, as they do, the 
wisdom of assembled churches, without the odium of 
power , which men are naturally jealous of, their decis- 
ions are endued with the better efficacy of truth, opin- 
ion, and persuasion. 

Respecting the powers of our Connecticut Consoci- 
ations, however, there is some difference of opinion ; 
some claiming for them juridical authority. The Say- 
brook Platform, which is the original constitution of 

19 



218 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER, 

these bodies, is susceptible of different constructions; 
though the most obvious is, perhaps, in favor of their 
being juridical. But however this may be, such pow- 
ers are at least inconsistent with a fundamental princi- 
ple of Congregationalism, — the self-government of the 
churches; and our general practice agrees with this 
view of the subject. 

ASSOCIATIONS. 

These are composed of ministers alone. They meet 
statedly for mutual counsel, sympathy, and prayer. 
They consult together respecting their personal diffi- 
culties and duties as pastors, and respecting the inter- 
ests of their churches ; and make it a part of their bu- 
siness to devise, recommend, and execute useful plans. 
They also have public religious services, 

These bodies exercise no ecclesiastical authority, 
except to license candidates for the ministry. 

The minor associations are composed of the minis- 
ters of a county, or smaller district, The General, or 
State Associations are composed of delegates from 
these. 

TRANSFER OF MINISTERS FROM ONE CHURCH TO AN- 
OTHER. 

It is a question proper to be introduced here, Wheth- 
er one church may lawfully call the pastor of another 
church? Doubtless it may, in certain cases. If it be 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 219 

clear that he will be more useful in the new sphere, the 
removal is allowable. For it is every man's duty to 
make the most of his talents in Christ's service ; and 
the churches should be willing thai he should. The 
minister of Christ is Christ's property, and not the 
property of a particular society. If it be not so, then, 
without the society's pleasure, he may not leave them 
for any sphere, however useful, — not for the presiden- 
cy of a university, an important secretaryship, or a for- 
eign mission. If it be right to remove a pastor in these 
cases, on the ground of his greater usefulness, it is 
right in the case before us, the principle being the 
same. 

But in the manner in which this thing is done, often, 
it is doubtless wrong. Before a pastor be called away 
from his flock, it should be well considered how much 
good he is doing where he is, how much evil will re- 
sult to the people bereaved, how many ties will be sun- 
dered, how many purposes be broken off, — and then, 
if in view of all you can proceed, — if neither covetous- 
ness nor robbery enters into the transaction, but simply 
a just regard to the cause of Christ, — the matter is law- 
ful and the duty clear. 



CHAPTER XII. 

'RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE WITH OTHER 
DENOMINATIONS. 

RELATIONS WITH PRESBYTERIANS. 

Between us and the Presbyterians there has existed 
a very intimate connection from early times. Near 
the close of the seventeeth century a formal agreement 
was entered into by the two denominations in England, 
with the understanding apparently, — from the title and 
terms of the compact,*— that they were thenceforward 
to regard themselves as one denomination. The union 
was promptly consented to by the churches in New 
England; and indeed it almost originated with them, 
one of their ministers, Dr. Increase Mather of Boston, 
then in England, being " singularly instrumental in ef- 
fecting that union." 

This happy union has been farther recognized and 
cemented by several acts of agreement mutually enter- 
ed into, some forty years since, by the General Assem- 
bly of the Presbyterian Church and the several New 
England State Associations. By these acts the perfect 

* ''Heads of Agreement assented to by the United Ministers, 
formerly called Presbyterian and Congregational.*' 

19* 



222 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

equality and fellowship of the churches and ministers of 
the two denominations are mutually acknowledged ; their 
ordinations, censures, and other ecclesiastical proceed- 
ings are reciprocally regarded as valid and obligatory ; 
and the delegates of each, respectively, are entitled to 
the same privilege of acting and voting in the ecclesi- 
astical assemblies of the other as their own mem- 
bers.* 

* One part of the " plan of union" has respect to the consti- 
tuting of churches in new settlements. The following are its 
provisions; which, as they are not. generally accessible to our 
ministers and members, and may be important to many of 
them, emigrating to the West, are deemed of sufficient impor- 
tance to form this note. 

1st. It is strictly enjoined on all their missionaries to the new 
settlements, to endeavor, by all proper means, to promote mu- 
tual forbearance and accommodation, between those inhabit- 
ants of the new settlements who hold the Presbyterian and 
those who hold the Congregational form of church govern- 
ment. 

2nd. If in the new settlements, any church of the Congre- 
gational order shall settle a minister of the Presbyterian order, 
that church may, if they choose, stiil conduct their discipline 
according to congregational principles, settling their difficulties 
among themselves, or by a council mutually agreed upon for 
that purpose : But if any difficulty shall exist between the min- 
ister and the church or any member of it, it shall be referred to 
the Presbytery to which the minister shall belong, provided 
both parties agree to it ; if not, to a council consisting of an 
equal number of Presbyterians and Congregationalists, agreed 
upon by both parties. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 223 

They are thus essentially one denomination. Though 
they have different denominational titles, and some di- 

3d. If a Presbyterian church shall settle a minister of Con- 
gregational principles, that church may still conduct their dis- 
cipline according to Presbyterian principles ; excepting that if 
a difficulty arise between him and his church, or any member 
of it, the cause shall be tried by the Association, to which the 
said minister shall belong, provided both parties agree to it. 
otherwise by a council, one half Congregationalists and the 
othei half Presbyterians, mutually agreed on by the parties. 

4th. If any congregation consist partly of those who hold 
the Congregational form of discipline, and partly of those who 
hold the Presbyterian foim; we recommend to both parties, 
that this be uo obstruction to their uniting in one church and 
settling a minister: and that in this case, the church choose a 
standing committee from the communicants of said church, 
whose business it shall be, to call to account every member of 
the church, who shall conduct himself inconsistently with the 
laws of Christianity, and to give judgment on such conduct: 
and if the person condemned by their judgment, be a Presby- 
terian, he shall have liberty to appeal to the Presbytery ; if a 
Congregationalism he shall have liberty to appeal to the body 
of the male communicants of the church: in the former case 
the determination of the Presbytery shall be final, unless the 
church consent to a further appeal to the Synod, or to the 
General Assembly; and in the latter case, if the party condem- 
ned shall wish for a trial by a mutual council, the cause shall 
be referred to such council. And provided the said standing 
committee of any church, shall depute one of themselves to 
attend the Presbytery, he may have the same right to sit and 
act iu the Presbytery, as a ruling elder of the Presbyterian 
church. 



224 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

versity of order ; they are yet one, not only by formal 
consent, but in faith, spirit, and aim. And notwith- 
standing a disposition to dissolve their union has been 
manifested latterly by a small and illiberal minority, or, 
perhaps we should say, by some disquieted individuals, 
of one of the parties, we trust in God that it shall never 
be effected. The two branches of the great family are 
too much alike in character, they have too many noble 
and holy enterprises upon their common hands, and 
have too long been blest in their union, to be soon or 
easily sundered and estranged from one another. May 
God preserve both them and his cause from such a ca- 
lamity ! # 

DEPORTMENT TOWARDS CHURCHES NOT IN COMMUNION 
WITH US. 

The division of the followers of Christ into sects, as 

* Since this volume was prepared for the press, the General 
Assembly has (at its late session at Pittsburg,) in part abroga- 
ted the above plan of union, But their doings herein are so 
repugnant to the known sentiments of the great body of Pres- 
byterians in the United States, that we are persuaded, — and in- 
deed we are directly assured by men of extensive influence in 
that communion, — that by another Assembly, more correctly 
exhibiting the sentiments of the churches, the union will be 
restored, and more than restored, to its original intimacy. 
Meantime the act of a waning minority, cannot disturb the 
substantial harmony thn! prevails throughout these sister 
churches. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 225 

they are at present, is a matter much to be lamented, 
and one which calls for the serious and prayerful con- 
sideration of all christians. The causes, evils, and 
remedies of these divisions, are quite too large a subject, 
(if it were a pertinent one,) for these pages; and too 
large a subject probably, to be soon compassed by hu- 
man wisdom. The church of Christ was originally one 
body ; and I cannot doubt that it will be again restored 
to unity, — in effect, if not in form. With men this 
may be impossible ; but with God all things are pos- 
sible. 

Meantime, as different denominations do, and will 
exist, it becomes an important question what should 
be our deportment towards those who differ from us. 
And, 

1. We should cheerfully allow them the same liberty 
of opinion and of conscience, and the same freedom of 
discussion and dissemination of their sentiments, which 
we claim for ourselves. Intolerance is no part of 
Christianity. 

2. We should be willing to see and appreciate what- 
ever of excellence they do possess ; and should own 
them as fellow disciples, so far as they appear truly to 
possess and exemplify the christian spirit. We should 
admit their virtues, though we may not be able to 
admit their pretensions, and ought not to countenance 
their errors. 

3. We should scrupulously refrain from misrepre- 
senting either their doctrine or their practice. "Thou 



226 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." 
And though we may see much in them to disapprove of 
and regret, yet we should exercise as much of that 
charity as we can, (consistently with fidelity to Christ 
and to souls,) ' which envieth not, thinketh no evil, 
believeth all things, hopeth all things. 5 

4. We should use no endeavors to proselyte away 
their people, — provided we have reason to believe that 
they have truth and godliness enough among them to 
save souls. From any decidedly heretical communion, 
where souls are certain to be destroyed, I would think 
it not only lawful, but a duty, to draw away as many 
as by honest means I could, as brands out of the burn- 
ing; but I would entice none from any evangelical 
preacher, church, or family. " Thou shalt not steal." 
" Thou shalt not covet." Dr. Doddridge acted both 
upon the divine command, and a common sentiment 
of honor among men, in the injunction which he ha- 
bitually gave to his theological pupils, to " avoid every 
thing which looks like sheep-stealing." 

But, on the other hand, 

1. We have a right to prefer our own belief and 
order to those of other communions, — provided we 
have taken suitable pains to inform ourselves, and are 
intelligent and conscientious in our preference. It is 
no breach of charity to read and understand the Bible 
for ourselves. , 

2. We have a right to show our preference by ad* 
hering to our own communion with pious constancy. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 227 

and taking our children and friends with us. It is 
what we ought to do, in obedience to our convictions* 
3. Though we should be forbearing and charitable 
towards other denominations, it is not incumbent on 
us directly to build them up to the pulling down of 
ourselves. We need not, out of a false charity, extol 
their doctrines, ways, or preachers, in disparagement of 
our own ; nor is it our duty to forsake our own assem- 
blies to encourage theirs; — especially when we have 
reason to believe that they have set up their meetings, 
or are conducting them, with proselyting designs. If 
we do honestly believe that they are more right than 
we are, the ingenuous course is to join them and be- 
long to their fraternity. But if we have no such con- 
viction, it is the part of consistency and duty to be 
stedfast where we are. Let us search the Scriptures, 
prayerfully and diligently, for the right way, and hav- 
ing found it, let us continue in it. One of the greatest 
evils resulting from a diversity of sects is the practice 
of running hither and thither between their worship- 
ping assemblies. Let us be fixed in something ; and 3 
being settled, let us be settled ; and not be moved out 
of our places by every sound of novelty, and carried 
] about by every wind of doctrine. 

4. It cannot be wrong, when attempts are made illi- 
•j citly to draw away our members, to endeavor, by suita- 
ble means, to prevent them. If we honestly believe 
that the truth is with us, and that the God of truth fa- 
vors us, we cannot be willing that our children and fel- 



228 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

low-worshippers should be alienated from as. We 
love our own, and cannot wish either that they should 
be estranged from our acquaintance, or lost to our 
privileges. And if, moreover, we are persuaded that 
the denomination with which we are connected, is more 
valuable for its influence on the community, and the 
world, than others which would gain converts from it; 
if we believe it to be more faithful in its exertions to 
repress vice, and to promote intelligence and virtue 
among men ; that it is more instructive, scriptural, and 
energetic in its sermons ; and that it is d^ing more in 
the great work of sending abroad the gospel into all 
the earth ; we cannot, as christians or as men, wish 
that its numbers should be diminished, or its influence 
curtailed. 

The ways of proselytism are many. It would be 
neither a grateful, nor very easy task to specify them 
all : the following are some of the most common ; and 
they need only to be mentioned to show how little they 
truly have to do with the spirit and objects of the 
gospel. 

(1.) Flattery. There are individuals who, though 
they cannot be won to Christ by faithful dealing with 
their souls, can be won to a party in religion by assidu- 
ous flattering attentions. The convert and the con- 
verters, in such cases, commonly, are alike worthy 
of the means employed, and of the fellowship thus 
formed. 

(2.) Prejudice. One of the most effective modes 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 229 

of exciting prejudice against our own and some other 
denominations, is to misrepresent their doctrines. How 
many odious things have been called " Calvinism!" 
and published as such for popular effect. The " doc- 
trines of grace/' as they have been called, the doc- 
trines which were embraced by the great body of the 
Reformers of the sixteenth century, — as their harmo- 
nious Confessions show, — embody more of the truth 
and power of the gospel, and have done, and are do- 
ing, more for the renovation of the world, intellectually 
and morally, than all other schemes beside, — as facts 
declare. But those doctrines, — because of their truth 
and power, — are not agreeable to the natural heart; 
which hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest 
its deeds should be reproved, — which hates especially 
God's sovereignty and man's dependence: — and no- 
thing is easier than to excite that natural prejudice of 
the heart into active odium and disaffection towards 
both the truth and those who hold it ; — especially when 
a little distortion is resorted to, and when, moreover, 
the attempt is made under an appearance of zeal for 
God and charity to souls. How often have pious Ar- 
Iranians and open infidels been collaborators in a work 
of this kind, though not associates, — assailing the same 
u walls of strength" with the same carnal weapons; 
though on opposite sides ! 

How ungrateful a thing it is, to be obliged to defend 
the truth of God against both friends and foes. But 
this we are often called to do. The writer of these 

20 



230 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER, 

pages has seen copies of the " Saybrook Platform/" 
(meaning the Confession attached to the Platform,) print- 
ed a hundred years ago, privily circulated among the 
members of a Congregational Society, he is ashamed to 
say by preachers, for the perusal of converts and inqui- 
rers, during a revival, having certain passages under- 
scored, and with exclamation points and other significant 
notes affixed, together with verbal comments, designed 
to mislead the simple ; and with these insidious con- 
structions on them, declared to be the faith which we 
inculcate and require. A similar use is made of that 
Confession and of the Assembly's Catechism by allu- 
sions to them in pulpits. Does Religion need such 
practices as these ? — such bad means to her good ends ? 
Non tali auxilio, not such aid to her holy cause, nee 
defensoribus istis ! 

I have before remarked,* how much authority those 
Confessions have with us, and how far they are to be 
regarded as exhibiting our faith. Doubtless there are 
statements in them which might be modified for the 
better. Doubtless they need deliverance from the false 
constructions of those who make it their business to 
abuse them. But as it regards the great system of doc- 
trines which they contain, they will, along with the 
Bible from which they are taken, withstand all the 
assaults which it may ever please the great adversary of 
truth to bring against them. Great is truth, and will 
prevail. 

* At pp. 43, 44* 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 231 

(3.) High Church pretensions ; such as claiming to 
be the only true church ; having the true order and 
succession ; whose ordinances are alone valid ; and con- 
signing all without its pale — churches, ministers, and 
all, along with the common world, to " uncovenanted 
mercy ;" — in a word, advertizing passengers that " we 
are the only safe ship." 

(4.) By troubling tender consciences about modesand 
forms. As an example for this, how many young con- 
verts, and even unconverted persons under concern of 
mind, have been embarrassed, and distressed, and kept 
halting, by an officious obtrusion on them of a certain 
mode of baptism, as indispensable to a due obedience to 
Christ. How often is the question put, Are you not 
going to follow Christ into the water ? when the real 
question is, Are you not going to unite with us ? 

(5.) Appeals to selfishness. " Come with us, and you 
shall have nothing to pay /" That is, come with us, and 
we will exempt you from that which Christ has mad© 
your duty, GaL vi. 6 — 8. 

(6.) Conniving at prevailing sins. For example, 
how much of the reserve, or opposition, which is mani- 
fested by some churches, to the existing temperance 
reformation, may have its secret motive in the hope of 
gaining numbers to themselves by such means — it 
would be uncharitable to say. 

(7.) Favoring disaffection. Ail societies of men, 
religious as well as others, will sometimes fall into dis- 
agreements about the management of their affairs. 



232 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

When such things happen in parishes, then is the time 
to introduce, or to build up, another denomination. 
How easy is it to gain the confidence of a party to a 
quarrel ! " See, thy matters are good and right ; but 
there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee. Oh 
that I were made judge in the land, that every man 
which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and 
I would do him justice !" Indeed, how easy it is, — but 
how ungenerous ! — to pull down a house already divided 
against itself, and out of its ruins to build another ! 

Another case in which the disaffected are encouraged^ 
is, when a member of the church is under its censure. 
We sometimes see such an one received, listened to, 
and soothed, by those who would seem to be glad of a 
convert, of whatever character, and by whatever means 
obtained. 

Such are the arts of proselyting. How little credita- 
ble are they to religion ! Surely it cannot be wrong to 
discountenance such arts. 

To preach the gospel according to one's own convic- 
tions of it, however earnestly or abundantly, to all who 
are disposed to hear, is what no one can reasonably ob- 
ject to. That is not proselytism : it is honest duty. Let 
such zeal be as successful as it will. So far as the sim- 
ple force of the truth which any denomination holds 
and teaches, so far as their good example and the bless- 
ing of God prosper them, let them be prospered. Even 
Christian must rejoice : for such success is success toi 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 233 

the cause of Christ. But the simple zeal of making 
proselytes to a sect,— -invading established and peaceful 
congregations and creeping into houses, with its arts of 
flattery and seduction, cannot be too much reprobated. 

5. Though it is " good and pleasant for brethren 
to dwell together in unity," yet there are some modes 
of union, which, as the feelings of sects are, do not seem 
to be advisable. 

One such mode is the building of union meeting 
houses. The plan is, for the several denominations of 
a place, they being too few to build several houses, to 
unite together in the erection of one for their common 
use, to be occupied in turns. Now this appears well ; 
and if they all could truly rise above their sectarian 
feelings, and keep above them, it would be the happiest 
thing they could do. But it too generally happens that 
jealousies begin to arise ; and contentions follow, with 
other unpleasant consequences. " Yonder," said my 
informant, as I was passing a small village at the west, 
pointing to a handsome building, but now apparently 
neglected, and storm-worn through want of painting, — 
" Yonder is a church which was built by three denomi- 
nations. They begun and finished it in much good 
feeling, but soon got into a quarrel about the occupancy 
of it, till finally it is occupied by neither of them, but is? 
fallen into the hands of the Universalists, and is used by 
them and by any body that comes along." Such is the 
history of one joint-stock meeting house* 

20* 



234 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBE&, 

Another union measure of questionable expediency 
is the temporary union of different denominations du- 
ring a revival. This may be well in particular cases ; 
but generally, so far as my own limited observation of 
the results of such unions enables me to judge, the 
measure does not appear to be best. The union is 
avowedly but temporary: it is entered into in the 
known expectation of soon dissolving it. Therefore, 
the principle of union cannot be very deep : it is a 
superficial feeling, though not altogether insincere. If 
it were that love, " strong as death," which " many 
waters cannot quench, nor floods drown," the union 
would be permanent. And as to the motive which in- 
duces the union, since it is known that the parties mu- 
tually expect to separate, and probably with increase, 
the motive will look questionable, however disinterested 
in reality it may be. As a display of charity and good 
feeling, therefore, (for which we hear them commend- 
ed,) such comminglings do not appear to be very valua- 
ble — especially if the parties do not separate as amicably 
as they came together. They might have found quite 
as many means of mutual courtesy and good feeling, 
remaining separate. 

But it is difficult to keep out the apprehension, at 
least, that one party may use undue means to get ad- 
vantage of the other. It is difficult, indeed, to keep 
out the thing itself. And how little are the distrust and 
the disquietudes which hence arise, favorable to the 
spirit which is proper to a revival ! They pervade 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 235 

the thoughts, the conversation, the prayers — of indi- 
viduals, if not all ; they become visible in intercourse ; 
they divert attention, corrupt the feelings, and grieve 
the Spirit : and in the end, probably, the great interest 
is little benefited by the union. 

If, as was before remarked, they all could merge 
their sectarian feelings in the measure entirely; if they 
could alike forget Paul, Apollos, and Cephas, in their 
common attachment to Christ, and had grace enough 
entirely to fulfil the precept of the apostle, Phil. ii. 2 — 4 ; 
the expediency of the measure could not be doubtfuL 
But then, — if they had so much grace as that, — they 
would cease to exist as separate denominations. 

On the whole, then, our imperfections being such as 
they are, it seems best, in the particular case before us^ 
that each denomination should go on in its own w r ay ; — 
with as much good will, however, and as little embar- 
rassment to the others, as it can. 

I should be sorry, if, in these remarks, I should seem 
to hinder the union of the followers of Christ, in any- 
way in which such union is practicable and hopeful. 
The existence of sects ought to be, and doubtless is, an 
affliction to every Christian. It is so unnatural a state 
of things in the family of Christ, so repugnant to his 
will, doubtless, and so obstructive to his cause on earth, 
that it is incumbent on all to labor to do away, rather 
than to widen and perpetuate, those divisions. In such 
an age as this, — so near the millennium, as we hope, — \ 



236 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER* 

every disciple of Christ should be cultivating within 
and around him the spirit of that union which surely 
will prevail in that expected happy period. 

In what particular manner the wisdom of God may 
bring about that union, we may not be able to antici- 
pate ; but it seems evident that it can never be, without 
mutual and free concession by all. No one existing 
denomination, — it is idle to suppose it, — will ever con- 
vert to itself all the others, and become the alone church 
militant on the earth. All Churchmen, or all Baptists, 
or Methodists, or Presbyterians, as denominations are 
now constituted, the world will never behold. Their 
existing narrow enclosures are not wide enough for so 
large a comprehension. The union must take place 
upon the most catholic views of the Bible ; and all hu- 
man authorities,— fathers, counsels, creeds, directories, 
and authors, — must be surrendered up to the simple 
supremacy of the book of God, and to an untrammeled 
conscience ; and the bigotry of sect give place to the 
more extended love of the family of Christ. Indeed, it 
is difficult to conceive how the distinctions of sect can 
ever be less than they are, so long as each denomina- 
tion so pertinaciously adheres to its- human standards, 
to the exclusion of the Bible, — practically, if not pro- 
fessedly, — as the common and only authoritative book 
of reference. 

As to our own denomination, I cannot but hope that 
there is much in its existing polity and spirit which is 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 237 

favorable to union. The word of God is already, — it ever 
has been, — their only authoritative Confession and Di- 
rectory. They are ready to turn, with all the churches, 
to the great position with which they all set out at the 
Reformation, that The Bible, the Bible alone is the reli- 
gion of Protestants. They are not only free to com- 
mune with Christians of every name at the table of the 
Lord, which is a small thing, comparatively ; but they 
are ready to co-operate with them, with good faith and 
heartily, in any benevolent work. Of this spirit in them, 
nearly every truly liberal and unsectarian institution in 
this country is their witness. The American Bible, 
Tract, Education, Temperance, Prison Discipline, and 
other kindred institutions, in which it has been aimed to 
secure the co-operation of all denominations, were ori- 
ginated solely, or mainly by them, and have been emi- 
nently sustained by their counsels, labors, and contri- 
butions. They have their partialities, doubtless, foi 
their own faith and order; they believe them to be. 
founded on the Bible : yet they set up no exclusive pre- 
tentions of being the only legitimate church. They 
have not, to my knowledge, in their numerous colleges 
and seminaries, a single professorship whose duty it is 
to inculcate their particular scheme of polity ; it is little 
discussed in their pulpits, or even in their books : and 
so little pains is taken to cherish sectarian partialities in 
their members, so little are their children nursed up in 
the narrow faith of distinctives and exclusives, and 
jure divino pretensions, and so little are they in fact 



238 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

attached to the body by mere sectarian feeling, that, of 
all people, Congregationalists, when deprived of the 
privilege of worshiping with those of their own com- 
munion, most easily attach themselves to others.* 
- I would not, in these remarks, in the least discredit 
the liberality of other denominations. There is much 
in them all — and much, I would hope, in the spirit of 
the age, that is liberal and catholic. Nor is it pretended 
that Congregationalists have not their share of human; 
imperfection, or that they are iri no degree sectarian ; 
yet, I would fain believe, that of them it may be said, if 
of any, they have little of the narrowness of sect. The 
salvation of man is their object, their field the world, 
and their " pale" the kingdom of Christ. 

•This accounts for the fact that almost every marriage 
which take* place between a Congregationalist and one of 
another persuasion, occasions the removal of the former into 
the religious communion of the latter; the Congregationalist 
being detained by no bigoted attachment to a name, and giving 
way to the conscientious sectarian scruples in which the other 
ha« been educated. This accounts, too, for the facility w r ith 
which too many of their members are proselyted from them. 



CHAPTER XIII. 
CONCLUSION. 

The theme of this concluding chapter, is suggested 
by the title of the Volume — " The Practical Church 
Member." 

The p? % actical man, in any department of life, is the 
man who, under the guidance of a sound judgment, 
applies himself with efficiency to the objects before him. 
His wisdom is a common sense wisdom, in distinction 
from visionary theory, and an effective wisdom, in dis- 
tinction from inactive contemplation and unproductive 
emotion. The practical Christian, then, is the Chris- 
tian who applies himself with good sense and efficiency 
to the business of religion. 

Jesus himself was a perfect example of practical reli- 
gion. His was not a religion of pious emotions merely, 
beginning and terminating in himself; but it was also 
a religion of judicious and effective beneficence. Much 
less was he carried away by that blind impulsive zeal 
which pays no regard to men and things as they are. 
He was at once holy, active, and discreet. He taught 
his disciples to be the same. When he sent them forth 
on the great business of propagating his gospel, he put 
discretion and inoffensiveness together, along with 



940 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

fidelity and boldness, into the instructions which were 
to guide them in their work. " Behold, I send you 
forth as sheep in the midst of wolves : be ye therefore 
wise as serpents and harmless as doves.' 5 

Every Christian ought to be, — but not every one is, — a 
practical disciple. The gospel requires such. If we con- 
sider the great objects it has to accomplish by means of its 
disciples, — that the world is to be converted, — its wick- 
edness overcome, its blindness instructed, its lusts 
subdued, its sentiments, manners, and condition, uni- 
versally changed, — we shall perceive that the utmost 
wisdom and the utmost energy are requisite for so ar- 
duous a work. We shall perceive that a religion which 
is merely contemplative and devout, or merely inoffen- 
sive and guileless, however amiable ; much more, a re- 
ligion which is nowhere visible, nowhere felt, but 
within church walls, — w 7 hose solemnity, or whose fervor 
begins and ends with the exercises of the worshiping 
assembly; most of all, a religion extravagant, fanatical, 
and reckless, is not a religion which can answer the 
ends of the gospel. 

The character of the age, too, eminently requires 
that our religion should be of the practical kind which we 
are considering. It is an age of great activity and excite- 
ment — of great enterprises and great conflicts. Dis- 
cussions, projects, measures, inharmonious and endless, 
require the decision and action of every serious man. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 241 

It may not, therefore, be unprofitable, nor foreign 
from the general design of this volume, to conclude with 
a brief view of some of those qualities which the gospel 
requires, always, in its professors, and more especially 
in an age like this. What are the qualities of the 
" practical church member?" 

1. Personal holiness. This lies at the foundation, 
Without eminent holiness we cannot effect much for 
the cause of Christ. For it is obvious that we can nei- 
ther exemplify nor propagate religion any farther than 
we ourselves possess it. The lamp that lacks oil, and 
is not trimmed, will shine but dimly ; nor will our zeal 
be warmer than our love ; or, at least, however fervid it 
may be, it will be no better than our knowledge, and 
no holier than our motives. Devoted piety alone is 
effective piety. 

2. Prayer. Among the habits to be maintained, 
this is the leading one. Its influence pervades the life, 
and is essential to every duty. If the Christian " lack 
wisdom," or lack faith, or fervor, or boldness, or any 
grace, his proper resource is prayer. " Every good gift 
and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down 
from the Father of lights." In proportion as we live in 
intimate communion with God, walking in the light of 
his countenance, and asking wisdom of him, our per- 
ceptions will be simple, clear, unbiased by the world, 
and wise ; our faith vivid ; our hope animated ; our 
zeal constant ; and our example convincing and persua- 

21 



f42 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

sive. " Prayer draws all the Christian graces into its 
focus. It draws Charity, followed by her lovely train, 
her forbearance with faults, her forgiveness of injuries, 
her pity for errors, her compassion for want. It draws 
Repentance, with her holy sorrows, her pious resolu- 
tions, her self-distrust. It attracts Faith, with her ele- 
vated eye — Hope, with her grasped anchor — Benefi- 
cence, with her open hand — Zeal, looking far and wide 
to serve — Humanity, with introverted eye, looking at 
home. Prayer, by quickening these graces in the heart, 
warms them into life, fits them for service, and dismisses 
each to its appropriate practice."* 

Without habitual prayer, no one can truly serve the 
cause of Christ. He will either be settled on his lees, or 
else, if he be active, his action w r ill be irregular, and hh 
influence unsound. 

3. Religious knowledge. All knowledge is desirable 
to the Christian ; but a knowlege of the Scriptures is 
indispensable. He cannot " instruct those that oppose 
themselves, 5 ' nor u give to him that asketh a reason of the 
hope that is in him," any farther than he is " ready 3 ' to 
do so by his knowledge of the gospel system. Indeed, 
it is preposterous to think of advancing the religion of 
the Bible, being ignorant of the Bible. " If the blind 
lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." How 
many passages there are which speak of a knowledge of 
the Scriptures as an essential requisite to usefulness ! 

* Hannah More. 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 243 

u All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is pro- 
fitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for in- 
struction in righteousness, that the man of God may 
be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 
Every Christian, therefore, who would be useful, should, 
like Apollos, be " mighty in the Scriptures." By daily 
study of them he should make his understanding familiar 
with their truths, his memory with their language, and 
his heart with their spirit." " Brethren, be not children 
in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, 
but in understanding be men." 

4. A sound faith. This is implied in the foregoing 
paragraph, but is worthy of a distinct consideration. 
The whole energy of the gospel is in its doctrines. Its 
precepts are, it is true, a perfect rule of life ; and, as 
such, are a lamp to our feet and a light to our path : 
but as a means of reforming men, they are powerless 
without the doctrines. The doctrines are the founda- 
tion of the precepts, and furnish the motives -to obey 
them. All duties are prescribed, all invitations and 
warnings uttered, all appeals to the affections and con- 
science made, in view of those great facts, or truths, 
which form the doctrinal part of theology, — which re- 
spect the attributes and government of God, the fallen 
state of man, the retributions of eternity, the mediation 
of Christ, the necessity of regeneration, the work of the 
Spirit, with other connected truths. In proportion as 
these are denied, impaired, or sunk out of view, the gospel 



244 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER, 

loses its consistency and meaning, and like a temple 
robbed of its key-stones and columns, is reduced to a 
shapeless ruin. Hence we are directed to " contend 
earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints." and 
to " hold fast the form of sound words" And hence, 
also, almost all the enmity of ungodly men is vented 
against the doctrines rather than the ethics of the 
Bible. 

It is therefore of the utmost importance, in a practi- 
cal point of view, to maintain the doctrines of the gos- 
pel in all their prominence and force. To desert or sur- 
render these, is to abandon the heavy ordnance of 
Christianity and put a period to her conquests. 

This is not the place to state or to defend the doc- 
trinal system of the Congregational churches. But 
when it is considered that the doctrines embraced by 
them are the same with those which were embraced by 
the Reformers, those great lights whose glory shall never 
be extinguished — that it was by means of these doc- 
trines, and of the -men who held them, that God wrought 
so great an overthrow of the Papal domination : that 
these were the doctrines of the Puritans, the Hugenotts, 
and of all kindred and persecuted men, of every age 
and country ; and when we perceive that wherever this 
system of doctrines has been faithfully inculcated, the 
effect has been most singularly happy on the habits and 
institutions of the people ; we cannot doubt that they 
are essentially the faith which was once delivered to the 
saints. God does not effect so great and happy changes, 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 245 

by means of error. He does not thus connect his agen- 
cy with doctrines of man's devising, " working with 
them, and confirming the word with signs following." 

It is no proof of the unsoundness of the doctrines we 
are considering, that they are hated of wicked men : it 
is rather a proof of their divinity. The truth of God, 
whatever it may be, was not made to please men, but 
to reform them; and when was it ever known that 
wicked men were delighted with any doctrine which 
demanded and enforced their reformation ? And what 
denial or modification of the truth of God was ever 
made, but to accommodate objectors, replying against 
God and saying, " Why doth he yet find fault f for who 
hath resisted his will?" and "This is an hard saying; 
who can hear it ?" That which pleases men in their 
sins, is sell-evidently not truth ; but is some " persua- 
sion" which " cometh not of him that calleth you." 

The practical disciple, I repeat, then, will not sur- 
render, nor timidly conceal, the essential doctrines of 
the gospel ; nor tremble to hear them preached. 

I fear there is a tendency in the times to lose sight of 
the importance of this subject. It is almost a necessary 
consequence, that in the multiplicity of our religious en- 
gagements, and in the abundance of our religious intel- 
ligence, in this age of benevolence, we should become 
diminutive in doctrinal knowledge. And herein is a 
danger to be guarded against. In all our plans and 
labors for Christianity, let us not lose sight of its doc- 
trines. These,— as we would promote a healthful state 

21* 



246 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMR-ER, 

of things, — must be " the light of all our measures, the 
soul of all our preaching, the stimulus and guide of all 
our zeal, the antidote to all confusion and wild disor- 
der.' 5 How frankly, how lucidly, and how constantly 
will the great doctrines of the gospel be preached, and 
how complacently listened to, in the millennium — that 
happy period of which it is written, " Wisdom and 
knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and 
strength of salvation!" 

5. A just concern for the purity of the Church. The 
practical church member considers that the world is to 
be converted by means of the church. If ever it is to 
be raised out of its present corruption and misery, the 
church, under God, is to do it. Ye are the light of the 
world : ye are the salt of the earth. The church must: 
therefore be fervent and pure. Her energy must be a 
holy energy. Being herself corrupt, she cannot purify 
the world, or being dark, she cannot enlighten it, — can- 
not remove the darkness which covers the earth, and 
the gross darkness which covers the people. Dark and 
cold masses, like frozen mountains, do but increase the 
darkness and chill of the regions around them. And 
corrupt bodies increase corruption. The faithful dis- 
ciple will therefore labor to maintain the church at an 
elevated standard, — pure in doctrine, exemplary in mo- 
rals, and strict in discipline. 

6. Judgment, or sound Discretion. If ever there 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 247 

was a time when people needed to " have their senses 
exercised^to discern both good and evil/' or when com- 
mon sense was a valuable quality, the present is such a 
time. The land is filled with all sorts of proposals, 
doctrines, and disputes — " wine questions," " slavery 
questions," " measures," "schools," and "isms" with 
many things, the contentions about which are more to 
be deprecated, perhaps, than the things themselves. It 
is an old trick of the adversary, to be working through 
the friends of the cause of Christ, not less than with its 
opposers. It may be so at the present! " We are not 
ignorant of his devices." Therefore it becomes us to 
be wary. There are false lights upon the coast : let 
us ask guidance from above, consult our chart, and use 
our judgment. 

But though we "believe not every spirit," yet, on the 
other hand, let us not be universally fearful, incredu- 
lous, and stationary. Prove ail things ; hold fast that 
which is good : and do with thy might whatsoever thy 
hand findeth to do. 

7. Another requisite is Candor. The discussions of 
the day are carried on with so much zeal as to draw 
men into parties and party feelings. " Verily, (says an 
old author,) there is an inebriety in the minds of men, 
which, as ever they quit one extreme, do stagger to the 
other." Men crowd to opposite extremes, taking their 
temper and judgment with them, while the " golden 
mean/' commonly, is the region truth. Let candor 



248 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

keep us from the " inebriety" of the times. There is, 
it is true, "a right and a wrong to every question ;" but 
it may be so handled by the parties, that truth shall be 
halved, and charity slain, between them. 

Si And another requisite is Prudence. Many good 
men, in the ardor of their philanthropy, seem too reck- 
less of consequences. " The driving is like the driving 
ef Jehu, the son of Nimshi ; for he driveth furiously. 5 ' 
Their doctrine is " Do duty, and leave consequences to 
God." The doctrine is good in the abstract : but if it 
be meant that consequences are to be left out of view 
in determining what duty is, it is at war with the precept, 
Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. 

But on the other hand, let not base timidity, or cold 
indifference, cover itself with a pretext of prudence. 
Timidity and sloth will never convert the world. 

" Those cold ways, 
That seem like prudent helps, are very poisonous, 
When the disease is violent. " 

9. Liberality. We are arrived at that age of the 
world when " the vile person shall be no more called 
liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful." The work 
of converting the world is undertaken; and is making its 
appeals to all the liberal of the earth ; and he that has 
no largeness of views, and of heart, is unfit for the 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 249 

times. Rejpent. such, for the kingdom of heaven is a?" 
hand ! 

And what are the views which the practical Christian 
takes of the work before us ? He considers how it is 
to be done. Not by dreaming and looking for the mil- 
lennium : not by praying, Thy kingdom come, merely ; 
not by an inactive confidence in the divine prediction 
that the heathen shall be given to Christ for his inheri- 
tance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his pos- 
session : but he sees that the worPis to be done, like 
every other work on earth, by human labors and sacri- 
fices. How shall they believe on him of whom they 
have not heard ? and how shall they hear without a 
preacher ? and how shall they preach, except they be 
sent? These to him are practical questions, — with 
others which come in their train : How shall they be 
c -'sent?" and how sustained? There must be ships 
and other conveyances to carry them out — over sea and 
over land ; and there must be money, presses, books, 
and whatever is requisite to missionary labors. And 
'when he considers that there are less than ten millions 
of evangelical Christians, probably, to gospelize some 
sixtv times that number of heathen, he will see that no 
man's means, no man's agency, no man's prayers can be 
uncalled for in so great an enterprise. And as a prac- 
tical'man, honestly meaning to serve God and his gene 
ration, he will give his heart, his hand, and his substance 
to the work. He will do good according to his ability 
not only in one, but in every department of action— 



250 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

revivals— the Sabbath school — moral reform, and what- 
ever pertains to the labors of Christian philanthropy. 
And he will take practical views of the promises : and 
believing that he that watereth shall be watered himself, 
will see the bearing of all such beneficent action, not only 
upon the far off heathen, but upon the world about him, 
upon the church of his immediate fellowship, and upon 
his heart within. Such is the practical Christian in regard 
to the world's renovation. Such is the Christian which 
is needed by the gospel and required by the times. 

10. Constancy. " Be not weary in well doing." 
The success of the cause of Christ requires that we be 
uniform and constant in our devotedness to it. The 
opposition to it is constant, and, like a body rolled up 
hill, or a ship against the stream, it can be carried for- 
ward only by a constancy as unremitting as the resist- 
ance. The wickedness of the world is like a conflagra- 
tion : if we pause in our exertions, the flame increases 
its rage. Water must be thrown at all points, and con- 
stantly. 

There are two sorts of Christians, who may be de- 
scribed as the constant and the variable ; whose beha- 
vior is as different as the principles which govern them. 
The one sort are governed by a simple regard to duty ; 
and as duty is a uniform principle, the conduct resulting 
from it is likewise uniform. The other sort are governed 
by feeling ; and as feeling is as unsteady as the wind, 
which is sometimes east and sometimes west, sometimes 
stagnant and sometimes violent and gusty, so is their 



THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 251 

religion, They acknowledge, indeed, and mean, perhaps, 
to be governed by the great principle of religious duty ; 
but if we observe their conduct, it will be evident that 
their immediate acts are directed by their feelings.. 
Every voice of duty is met and answered by a confer- 
ring with flesh and blood. They consult weariness, 
expediency, the agreeableness or disagreeableness of the 
duty, the existing state of things, and whatever may 
affect their present inclination. 

Now it is obvious that the cause of Christ can never 
be much promoted by an inconstant and uncertain man. 
Confidence in him is that confidence in an unfaithful 
messenger which is like a broken tooth and a foot out 
of joint. 

Take him simply as an exhibition of religion to the 
world. Example, to be convincing, must be consistent. 
But what greater contradiction is there in the eyes of 
men, than to be sometimes hot and sometimes cold, in 
so great a matter as religion — supposing it to be true ? 
The one state denies the sincerity, and nullifies the in- 
fluence, of the other. We are commanded to let our 
light shine before men; but a light, to be serviceable, 
must burn with a steady flame. That which flares and 
flickers, sometimes a flaming torch, and sometimes a 
dying taper, is of little use, It does not light the 
traveler, but confounds him. By throwing alternate 
light and darkness on his path, it increases his perplexi- 
ty and danger of stumbling. 

A good man's influence gathers force from its uni- 
formity and continuance. Like the rolling snow-ball, it 



252 THE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER. 

enlarges as it proceeds. Other men have turns of being 
serious ; but fall away and satisfy beholders of the 
vanity of their religion. If the professor has but turns, 
what does his case amount to, more than others ? When 
one is first converted, it is still doubtful if he is truly 
what he seems. It remains to be shown by time. The 
world watches him in the new way, till, by his visible 
perseverance in it, the conviction becomes a settled one, 
that his religion is a reality. That established, his ex- 
ample, his sentiments, prayers, reproofs, have power 
with ungodly men. 

If we would be truly subservient to the cause of 
Christ, then, we must be steadfast and constant. And 
in order to this, a sense of duty, and not our feelings 
merely, must in all cases control our actions. Let us 
remember that God himself is governed by fixed princi- 
ples, — with whom is no variableness, neither shadow 
of turning; that the Bible is a book of principles; and 
that principle is the basis of all true religion. And on 
the other hand, feeling, — present inclination — is the 
leaven of all irreligion and all wrong religion. It is the 
wind that carries heresy and fanaticism about. How 
far is the principle which governs the movements of the 
inconstant professor from that of the people whom the 
Bible reprobates as children tossed to and fro — clouds 
carried about — wells without water — double minded 
and unstable in all their ways ? The steadfast Chris- 
tian — universally faithful, and always alive in the ser- 
vice of Christ — he alone is the Practical Church Mem- 
ber. 



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